#aang and Kya ii

[flameohotwife]

Councilbaby Kya

for @coyotelemon, entirely based on her idea for an upcoming comic! Read here or on ao3. Rated G

“Oh, good the Avatar is finally here we can get star… uh… who do you have there, Avatar Aang?”

“Oh!” Aang’s face brightened at the mention of his daughter, who he was carrying swaddled to his front in a pale blue sling. He shifted to show off her adorable face. “Members of the Council, this is Kya! She’s going to be joining us for this meeting.”

The various council members shifted uncomfortably in their seats. This was most unusual. Highly unconventional. Children were not normally permitted at Republic City council meetings. But nobody dared mention this to the Avatar himself.

Aang spoke again. “Because this incredibly necessary meeting fell during family dinner, I couldn’t just leave Katara with both kids. Bumi is already enough for one adult to wrangle, especially when it comes to bathtime… and convincing him he should actually go to bed and stay there. So, the only solution was to bring baby Kya with me to the meeting! She’s very excited.”

At that moment, Sokka waltzed in carrying a satchel filled with diapers, washcloths, extra clothes, blankets, a stuffed lemur, several rattling toys, and a small bottle of milk.

“Councilman Sokka,” droled Lee, one of the council members from the Fire Nation. “You’re late.”

“Yeah, well,” Sokka started, plopping the bag down next to Aang, who had moved his chair away from the table and was settling onto an airball so he could keep bouncing baby Kya up and down. “I had to help the Avatar and my sister get everything ready. Aang barely had enough time to run home between the last meeting and this one. You all are under strict orders from Katara not to keep him or the baby out too late too, by the way.” Sokka leveled them all with a very Katara-esque look and the council looked rightfully alarmed.

Aang chuckled and shook his head before addressing the room. “Anyway, shall we get started?”

The meeting progressed surprisingly well, though there was some definite eyerolling from various council members when Kya took the gavel from her father’s hands and began banging it loudly on the table before exploring it with her mouth. Every time Aang changed positions to make her more comfortable or rummaged through the satchel for something she needed, and especially during Kya’s one (very messy) diaper change, there were loud and exasperated sighs from the room, but when he looked back at them everyone had fixed their faces so that he couldn’t identify the culprits.

Everyone's demeanor changed after Aang heated the bottle of pumped milk using firebending, however. As he fed the baby to sleep and they rocked gently on an airball, more faces than not turned adoring. No one could deny that the meeting had been productive despite many distractions and interruptions. Kya had rarely fussed in the arms of her loving and devoted father, despite his full attention not being on her. Maybe the Avatar refusing to conform to their idea of polite society wasn’t so bad after all. They collectively agreed they should also stop scheduling important meetings during dinner, but they wouldn't complain the next time the Avatar showed up with a child in tow, either.

[niyana-the-ambiguous-mobian]

Got a new and very random drabble to show. New fandom and everything :)

Wind Hunter- Link

Word count: 2k

Characters: Aang and Kya.

Synopsis: Aang has a heart-to-heart with Kya about her future.

[aangs-love]

if you guys didn’t already know i’m the CEO of kyaang, you DEFINITELY do now.

[kristallioness]

The candy thief

Summary: Kya goes to search for some healing candy.

Word count: 3,218

Author's note: Honestly, I came up with this idea BEFORE I fell ill this past Thursday. *angry muttering* Long story short, my dad caught a nasty cold about 2 weeks ago and apparently, now I finally have it, too (so does my mom, which makes sense since we're all cooped up together at home, as most people are nowadays). Luckily it started off with only a mildly sore throat this time (that's pretty rare in my case) and the rest of the symptoms were barely noticeable, so I'm fine with that (and as of this Tuesday, I already feel quite normal again, which is good since I gotta be healthy if I wanna get my flu shot next Friday). At least I had a personal point of reference while writing the story (not that I intended to have one *lol*)... Anyways, I remember when I was a little girl, then sometimes I didn't dare to admit that my throat was sore, or I really hoped that it'd go away if I waited long enough. Instead, I chose to suffer for at least half a day (before the pain became unbearable or I realized that it isn't going anywhere), cause I was afraid that my mom would start lecturing me that I wasn't careful enough when I caught that cold in the first place (she did anyway, but just a little bit, and after that she of course did everything to help me feel better). So, I kind of took that idea and self-inserted my silly child version into Kya's character, to show how she'd try to keep it secret for as long as she could by sneaking past her mommy to find some medicine on her own. Which, knowing Katara, is practically a "mission impossible".

----------x----------

Telling mommy was the last thing on Kya's mind. The 3-year-old reluctantly swallowed another mouthful of warm jook, lifting up the next bite with her spoon as she still had the other half of the plate to finish.

"What's the matter, sweetie? Aren't you hungry?"

Kya shook her head and quickly took a bite to not arouse suspicion. Katara eyed her for a second longer, then shrugged her shoulders and continued drying the rest of the dishes.

The poor little waterbender had no idea how much longer she could possibly tolerate this pain. Ever since she woke up, her throat had been killing her. Last night, it started off as a weird scratchy feeling on one side, which didn't really seem that bad when her mother tucked her in bed. But by the time morning arrived, it had spread all across the back of her throat.

"You seem kind of quiet this morning. Is everything okay?" Katara wondered, running the towel over the ladle she'd used to cook breakfast for herself and her baby girl.

"Mhmm," Kya hummed and nodded with her mouth full. She wished that she could enjoy this delicious food more without having to think and prepare herself for the burning sensation each time she swallowed it. Jook was one of her favourite dishes, but it certainly didn't taste as pleasant as usual right now. She'd had enough of this torture.

Kya grabbed her half empty plate from the kitchen table and hopped off the high chair to walk over to her mother and hand the dirty dishes to her. Katara smiled and squatted down as she saw her baby girl approach her, taking the plate off her hands.

"Can I go play?" she asked innocently.

"Yes, sweetie. You can go ahead and play in your room now."

After receiving a tender kiss on her forehead, Kya hurried out of the kitchen. But instead of scampering back to her bedroom, she tried to be stealthy and reach the infirmary without her mother, or anyone else seeing.

Kya knew very well what would happen if she told mommy the truth: first, mommy would become angry and she'd get berated for not taking care of herself better. Then, she'd get dragged to the healing hut inside their temple and her mommy would poke her with these scary instruments to find out what's wrong. And finally, she'd have to drink some sort of bitter tea or take some other kind of nasty medicine for a couple of days before she started to feel better.

Coming clean was surely out of the question. There had to be another way she could both hide, yet relieve her suffering. So she decided to take matters into her own hands.

Kya managed to sneak into the infirmary room unnoticed. She gave the hallway one last glance to be certain she wasn't followed, after which she made her way to the cupboards at the back of the room.

The healing hut, as her mother liked to call it, was a spacious room no bigger than the dining hall used by the residents of their little island. She passed several empty beds, which were covered with indigo blankets that had pretty flower patterns on them, and white pillows for resting your weary head on. These beds were meant for mommy's patients - be it a member of their own family, one of the air acolytes, or sick strangers who desperately needed mommy's help from time to time. Kya never liked having to sit on or rest in any of them.

As she reached the other end of the room, she paused for a minute to think. There were two cupboards on the floor and three cabinets hanging up on the wall. They all looked the same with their delicate wooden carvings, but they contained various items that mommy usually used to help sick people feel better. Now came the hard part: where to find the right medicine?

Kya knew what she was looking for. The last couple of times she'd suffered from a sore throat, Katara had given her some special lemon-flavoured candies to suck on, which helped soothe the pain until it disappeared a day or two later. If she could get her hands on them, she might be able to make it through without having to tell her mother.

The little waterbender opened the squeaky doors of the first cupboard and had a peek inside. She didn't have any luck on her first try. The shelves were full of materials for wrapping up sprains or bandaging wounds, along with a couple of clean towels and a few tins that contained stinky salves.

It was the same with the other cupboard right next to it. Nothing resembled those candies Kya remembered eating the last time she was sick. She had no other choice but to get a closer look at the cabinets high up on the wall. The problem was how was she ever going to reach them?

For a little girl like her, it was supposed to be impossible. Katara had stored all the vitamins, pills and pointy medical instruments up there, so her kids wouldn't get their hands on them and harm themselves by accident.

Kya climbed up on the nearest bed to have a better view of what's in there. But she was still too far away to open the cabinet doors on her own. Was there anything she could use as an extension of her arms? Maybe she could make a lasso out of the towels or an elastic bandage and toss it around the handle?

Instead, she noticed the two big pots filled with bending water in the corners of the room. Mommy would normally use that water for healing purposes, but it gave her an idea.

The little waterbender knitted her brows, summoning an uneven stream of water from one of them. She couldn't control the element exactly the way she wanted it to behave, but if she could just get it around the door handle..

And then there was a loud bang. The 3-year-old startled and lost complete control over the water, which splashed down on the cupboard below, leaving a small puddle in front of it on the floor.

She'd nearly managed to pull the cabinet door wide open when she lost her waterbending grip and gravity did its job, thus causing it to fall back shut. Her mother's tactic justified itself. It was a miracle if she didn't hear the noise.

Kya climbed back down from the bed to go clean up the mess. Using her clumsy waterbending, she attempted to place the water back into the pot. The blobs she carried between her hands dripped from beneath, leaving a trail of wet spots on the floor.

"What are you doing there?"

The next blob fell down on her booties and soaked them. She'd left one important variable out of the equation - her daddy returning from his morning meditation outside in the pavilion. She stood completely still, having been caught red-handed. Or wet-handed was more like it.

"Nothing," she uttered, guilt written over her face. Aang stepped inside the infirmary, surprised to see his baby girl in there in the first place. She avoided this place like fire.

"It sure doesn't look like nothing. What happened? Why's there water on the furniture?"

Kya hung her head in shame as her daddy squatted down in front of her, laying a supportive hand on her shoulder.

"It's okay, I'm not mad. I just wanna know what happened. Were you practicing your waterbending?"

She shook her head in response.

"No? Then what were you doing in here?"

Kya stared up at the row of cabinets hanging from the wall, taunting her for her small height and inability to fend for herself. She pointed her finger at the one she'd tried to open earlier.

"I wanted healing candy," she said, sparking a bit of confusion in her father. She didn't know any fancier words that'd describe the medicinal sweets she was after.

"You wanted what?"

"Healing candy," she repeated one more time, watching how daddy waterbended her shoes dry so her feet wouldn't get cold. Not that it mattered anymore since she already had a cold.

"Don't tell mommy," the 3-year-old pleaded. Now Aang felt even more confused.

"Why not? I'll help you clean up here and tell mommy it was an accident. It's no big deal."

To demonstrate, he waterbended the top of the cupboard dry with one simple flick of his wrist. He moved on to cleaning up the wet tracks on the floor.

"Mommy's gonna be angry."

Her reasoning made the airbender chuckle since there'd barely be a trace of the mishap left by the time he finished.

"What? Why would mommy be angry at you?"

"Cause my throat hurts."

Aang had to pause for a second as everything began to fall into place. He dropped the dirty water into the sink and turned to face his daughter.

"Oh, you poor thing.." he murmured, running his fingers through her hair to console her.

"Now I get it. You wanted some of those special candies that mommy has that can soothe your sore throat, right? But you couldn't reach the cabinet, so you tried to open it with your waterbending."

"Mhmm," the little waterbender agreed with a nod. Aang pondered for a minute before he proposed a plan that wouldn't frighten her any more than she already was for going behind their backs and lying about her condition.

"Tell you what, I promise I won't tell mommy about your sore throat. But I need to go ask her where she keeps those special candies so I can give you some. Okay?"

Kya wasn't too happy about that last part, cause then her mommy would figure it out. But it was the only way she could get her hands on the right medicine if daddy didn't know where to look for it either.

"Is there anything else I can get you? Your mini Appa, perhaps?"

"No. I want candy," she said, determined to get rid of the constant burning sensation. She didn't care whether mommy would be mad at her or not anymore. She just wanted the pain to go away.

"Alright. Be a good girl and wait right here. I'll be back in a minute."

Aang patted her head before standing up and leaving the room to go search for Katara.

In the meantime, Kya perched on the edge of the bed opposite to the cupboards to give her feet a rest. She swung them back and forth, patiently waiting for her daddy to return. Mentally, she was preparing herself for the lecture her mother was bound to give her on being more careful when it concerned her health.

She pricked up her ears, but couldn't hear her parents talking in any of the rooms nearby. Her curiosity got the better of her after a minute or two had already passed, so she went to peek into the empty hallway. Once she saw her mommy stepping out of the kitchen, she quickly hurried back to the bed where she was told to stay.

"I'll show you where it is, so the next time you need it, you'll know where to look," Kya heard her mother speak. It wasn't long until she entered the healing hut, followed shortly by her daddy.

But to her surprise, mommy looked happy rather than angry. She headed straight for the middle cabinet and opened the door on the left side. Katara didn't even seem to notice that she was sitting there on the bed behind them.

"It's right here on the lower shelf, next to the bottle of vitamins."

She picked up the correct box of lozenges and put it on the cupboard for her husband to see.

"Alright, I'll definitely remember it now. Thanks!"

He gifted her with a tiny peck on the cheek. The little waterbender already felt that she was off the hook. While her parents were distracted by their show of affection, she'd hopped off the bed and squeezed herself between their bodies to reach for the medicine on the counter. But it was too far away, and then her mother came down to her level to talk.

"Kya, do you wanna tell me what's going on? Why's daddy looking for these healing candies?"

All of a sudden, she felt cornered again. Maybe mommy wasn't as clueless as she'd hoped. Kya stared up into her daddy's grey eyes in search of answers, unsure about what she should do. Luckily, Aang helped her out.

"Do you want me to tell mommy?"

Her mouth fell a bit agape. It wasn't until then that she realized that daddy had kept his promise. He hadn't mentioned a word to mommy about her being the reason why he wanted to know the location of the candies.

Ultimately, Kya decided it'd be better if he took the blame. She nodded. And that was all Aang needed to hear, or see.

"She has a sore throat," he confessed, squatting down to her and Katara's level, pulling their baby girl into his protective embrace by resting an arm around her shoulders.

Kya looked away, expecting her mother to raise her voice at her. Instead, she felt her mother's warm hand cupping her cheek and gently lifting her chin up so she could look her in the eye. She was frowning.

"Oh, sweetie.. Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

When she remained silent, Aang chimed in.

"She was scared that you'll get angry at her for falling ill."

"Is this true, baby?"

The little waterbender fiddled with her fingers for a bit, then gazed into her mother's blue eyes and nodded shyly. Katara released a heavy sigh, as if she'd been holding her breath the entire time.

"I'm sorry, sweetie. I never mean to get mad at you. It's just that.. I'm worried about you when you don't feel well. And when I'm worried, sometimes I might overreact a bit."

"A bit?" Aang laughed, but shushed up when Katara glared at him. She continued brushing her fingers through their daughter's hair to soothe her.

"The point is.. Next time you feel sick, you don't have to be afraid to tell me, okay? We all get sick every now and again. The important thing is to start the right treatment as soon as possible, because then you'll feel better a lot quicker. Do you understand that?"

Kya didn't comprehend everything what her mother said, but she did understand that her mommy felt sorry, and that it's okay to approach her the next time she felt under the weather.

"Come here."

Katara spread her arms and invited her baby in for a hug.

"Now, will you be a brave little waterbender and let mommy have a look at your throat?" she whispered into Kya's ear, to which she broke free from the hug and ran back between her daddy's legs, hiding her head under his shawl. Aang started laughing again.

"Looks like she's still scared."

Even Katara found the situation to be funny. She giggled as she stood up and opened the other side of the cabinet where she'd gotten the lozenges.

"Kya, I'm not going to hurt you," she reassured the little waterbender, who turned around to peep at what she was doing from under her red hood. Her mother placed a glass tube on the counter, next to the box of candies she wanted.

"I only wanna look into your mouth to see if your throat is red," Katara claimed as she knelt back down and shifted closer to her. Aang urged Kya to come out of hiding and take a step closer to her mommy so she could examine her.

"Can you open wide and show me your tongue, like this?"

Katara demonstrated for her by sticking out her own tongue, hoping that Kya would mimic her. Once she did, she pressed her tongue down with a wooden stick to see the back of her throat. It did seem a tad red, but there was nothing that would indicate a serious infection.

"Good girl," Katara praised.

"Say 'Aahh'!"

"Aahh!" Kya repeated obediently, allowing her mother to pull the stick out of her mouth. Next, she threw it away in the trash bin and gently pressed her fingertips below her jaw on either side of her neck.

"Don't worry, I'm just gonna feel your neck for a bit to see if it's swollen," Katara explained while palpating the lymph nodes in that area. She tickled her chin in the end, earning a short giggle from her baby girl. It was high time she rewarded her for her good behaviour.

"Alright, I think you've been through enough."

She reached for the box of lozenges, pulled it open and pushed one out from the blister pack.

"Here you go, sweetie. Suck on this and your throat will feel a little better for a while."

Kya took the yellow piece of candy from her mother's palm and shoved it in her mouth. After she'd swallowed a couple of times, the dissolving medicine slowly began to do its job.

"Thank you, mommy!"

The elder waterbender grinned and gifted her with another tender kiss on her temple.

"You're welcome, baby. Do you mind if I take your temperature while you suck on your healing candy? I wanna be sure you don't have a fever."

Since the little waterbender showed no signs of protest, her parents escorted her to the nearest bed. Aang sat down next to her for moral support, watching how she happily sucked on the lozenge while his wife tried to measure her temperature.

Katara grabbed the thermometer and squatted down in front of Kya. Using her motherly, but caring tone, she explained in rather great detail why she's tucking it under her arm. It was a sight that made the airbender's heart flutter with joy - a healer doing what she does best.

"Aang, could you apply some pressure here to make sure it's in contact with her skin and doesn't slip anywhere?"

"Sure."

He held his hand against Kya's upper arm to keep the thermometer in place for a few minutes. She no longer seemed to mind them prodding her in any way. She had what she'd wanted: sweet relief, literally.

Katara stroked their daughter's rosy cheek with the back of her hand to pass the time. She wore a loving smile, but her brows were furrowed in concern. She was thinking of a way to remind her baby girl why it was essential for her to know when she's sick.

"Sweetie.. I wanna help you feel better, but I can only do that if you tell me what's wrong. Will you promise me that from now on, when you don't feel well, you'll let mommy know right away?"

"Okay, mommy."

Katara let out a content hum at that. She scooted closer and pressed one last kiss on the little waterbender's forehead.

"Good girl. And in turn, I promise I'll try not to overreact so much."

She pulled the thermometer out from under her tunic and had a look at the silver line of mercury inside the glass. Her smile grew wider, she had no fever.

[kristallioness]

Yesterday, I saw a post here that made me think of Book 3 of Korra. It reminded me that Book 3 was The Best™ season imo and how the 13th episode (100th overall) was so heart-wrenching.

Then I remembered those wind chimes and their beautiful, but melancholic melody. And I thought that.. Kya's an airbender at heart, right? So, what if she doesn't wanna go down for a nap or is upset because of something and Aang can't get her to stop crying?

He decides to bring her into the temple and while the door is open, a draft makes the wind chimes clink together. Kya hears it and stops crying, becoming mesmerized by the sound until she eventually falls asleep in his arms.

That part of the temple becomes a special place for Aang, who would bring his baby girl there and airbend a current up to the ceiling to make them chime in order to put Kya at ease.

Twitter | my art / sketches

[kristallioness]

@thecaroliner requested a Kataang kiss, so the first thing that came to my mind was this moment from "Patched up", my first fanfic of the year 2019.

Aang thanks Katara for helping him soothe their baby girl by patching up her broken sky bison plush during her lunch break at the hospital.

Twitter | my art / sketches

[kristallioness]

Patched up

Summary: Aang brings Katara a very special little patient to patch up.

Word count: 2,436

Author's note: My first fanfic of the year 2019, yay! I'm really proud of this one cause it turned out so adorable! Much fluff with Aang, Katara and baby Kya (please imagine her looking like this). I'm not sure whether/how much I was inspired by that headcanon @thecaroliner shared with me, but it does have a little bit of that in it, only in a completely different context. A really cute context, might I add.

----------x----------

The midday sun shined through the windows of the best healer's office as she was busy filling in the blanks on the last line in her last patient's file before her break. She paused for a moment to rub her empty stomach when it growled. Katara looked forward to having lunch with her friends and employees after a busy morning as a family physician.

She dropped the pen on her desk and slid the paper between the patient's folder, opening the lowest drawer on her left to place it back in between all the others, which were arranged alphabetically.

A shadow fell upon the floor and she heard three taps against the windows behind her. She figured it might be another bird pecking at the glass. But when Katara glanced over her shoulder, she nearly fell out of her armchair upon seeing how big the bird was. He waved back at her.

"Aang! What are you doing here?"

Appa released a growl once she noticed them. Her husband was flying behind the windows on the top floor of the hospital, specifically, behind the ones that led to her office. Katara could spot their 1-year-old daughter cradled in his arms as well.

She walked to the back of the room and cracked the tall window in the middle open to talk to him. The clock on her husband's memorial island struck noon at the same time.

"Hey there, sweetie! What's up?"

"Umm.. the clouds, me, our baby and Appa. Can you let us in so I can explain?"

Katara couldn't help but laugh at his joke, after which she waved a hand and stepped away from the window to invite them in.

"Of course! C'mon in!"

Aang rarely used that entrance. He'd usually land Appa on the roof and use the staircase going all the way down to the building if he wanted to visit her at work. He would only sneak in through the window if either one of them was in a hurry or it was a serious matter. Or sometimes when she needed him to bring her something from home.

Aang held onto their baby girl tightly so he wouldn't accidentally drop her on the street more than 40 stories below. He gracefully leaped in through the window, using his airbending to soften their landing so the wind wouldn't scatter the items on Katara's desk and he wouldn't make a mess in her office like the first couple of times.

She stepped in front of him and greeted him with a kiss before she turned her attention to Kya, who still had tears streaming down her cheeks.

"What's wrong, baby? Did something happen?" she cooed as she lifted her daughter's chin a little bit to look into her cerulean eyes.

"Yeah. I don't wanna bother you at lunchtime, but we had a little accident."

"Oh no! Is she hurt?"

"No-no, Kya's fine. But.. her mini Appa is not. Show mommy what happened."

The little waterbender inched the toy her daddy was holding in his other hand closer to her mommy's nose.

"Ab-bah bwo-ken!" she exclaimed and continued wailing, hiding her face into her daddy's robes, which had become damp from that spot. Her mommy looked at the long tear running along the line that connected the paw to the body of the plush sky bison. Some cotton stuck out from the opening.

"She kept crying 'wan mama' and wouldn't let me fix it because, apparently, she knows I'm not a healer like you. So I brought you an emergency patient. Sorry!"

Aang gave Katara a goofy grin while she searched for a handkerchief in her pocket and began wiping Kya's tears away, letting her blow her nose into it in the end.

"Aww, my poor baby! Don't be sorry, Aang. It's okay.. Appa's gonna be okay. He just needs a few stitches. Mommy's gonna make Appa all better."

The little waterbender hesitantly handed her favourite toy over into her mother's loving arms.

"I'm really sorry for wasting your lunch hour, sweetie."

"It's okay. I don't mind if I get to spend it with you and our precious little girl."

She pinched Kya's cheek, then took the needle and thread that Aang had brought along for her from home and started sewing the two parts back together while he played with their daughter.

Aang held onto Kya's tiny hands and helped her learn how to master walking, waddling around like a penguin himself while she took steps in front of him. She lifted her feet off the ground and refused to let them back down once she became tired, finding more joy in teetering back and forth.

"C'mon, baby! You're on a roll, just a couple of more steps.."

"Bah!"

"Oh, okay.." he sighed before giving in. She let her father carefully drop her onto the thick carpet under her bottom to take a break.

Kya ran her hand through the furry carpet as Aang sat down beside her and observed what she was busy discovering. Everything seemed so white and clean and there was an unpleasant smell of various herbs all around her. Kya did like the furry carpet since the material felt so soft. Aang grabbed her bare ankle and gave it a squeeze.

"Do you remember mommy's office? We were here a few months ago when mommy gave you an annual checkup."

"Mam-ma?" Kya asked, pointing up at the bed next to them.

"Heh, mama's not sitting on the examination table. Can you find mama? Where's mama?"

She got down on all fours and turned around, squealing once her gaze found her mother's familiar face behind the high table.

"That's right, mama's over there."

The toddler changed course towards her mother's desk, with her father crawling right after her.

"He-he, where are you going? Wait up!"

She moved past the second armchair meant for the patients and crawled through the hole in the middle of the wooden furniture, where her mother's legs were visible on the other side.

Aang played along and wanted to follow her, but instead a loud thud emanated from below the desk.

"Ow!"

"Aang, are you okay?"

Katara ceased her sewing and hurried to his side, squatting down in front of him while he crawled back out.

"Yeah, I'm okay. I guess I forgot I'm not as small as I used to be."

He rubbed at the back of his head while his wife examined his slight injury. He accidentally hit his head against the top drawer since the hole underneath was too small for him to crawl through. He'd just become her second patient.

"Or as young. Show me where you bumped your head."

"Right around here."

She gently palpated near the area with her fingertips.

"Ow! Not so hard! That still hurts.."

"Sorry, sweetie, but now I know where I need to waterbend. Hold still."

Katara summoned some water from one of the two big pots in the corners at the back of the room. Having waterbended the liquid around her hands like gloves, she tenderly placed them over the spot he'd shown her to relieve the pain. She healed the bump in a minute.

"Feel better now?"

Aang patted around the spot and, not sensing any pain, he leaned forward to thank her with a kiss on the cheek.

"Much better. Thanks, Katara!"

"You're welcome, sweetie. Now, let me get back to our previous patient.."

She grabbed his hands to help him stand up, after which she returned to her seat to finish the last few necessary stitches.

"Oh, no-no-no-no-no! Kya, don't touch those! That's mommy's stuff."

The toddler had been busy shuffling through the folders in the open drawer. Katara panicked for a moment and checked, but luckily she didn't seem to have mixed them up. She untangled her fingers from the papers and pushed the drawer shut, releasing a sigh of relief as she plopped back into her armchair, her husband doing the same opposite to her.

The little waterbender peeked up at her mother's desk to have a look at all the stuff she'd displayed on there, including a lamp, some writing materials, a couple of her medical instruments and the patient she was treating.

She waddled over to her mother, supporting herself against her knees and reaching her hands up, waiting to be cuddled.

"Wan mam-ma!"

"Aww, mommy's right here, baby. Upsy-daisy!"

Katara dropped the needle so she could lift her daughter into her lap. She peppered Kya's head with a dozen tiny kisses, which she planted into her short brown hair. She squeezed her just a bit tighter so she could hug her, stroking her back for a minute to soothe her.

"There-there.. I'm here. Mommy's right here."

Kya fidgeted a little so her mommy would loosen her embrace. She grabbed the shiny metallic piece of the long weird necklace hanging around her neck, admiring it with her mouth slightly agape.

"That's mommy's stethoscope."

She didn't understand the fancy word, but she tried to pronounce it by blowing a raspberry, since that's what it sounded like to her. Her parents shared a good laugh.

"Good try, sweetie!" Katara praised, ruffling up some of her hair, which made her baby girl giggle. She grabbed the other end to place the earpieces into her ears. She took the chestpiece from her daughter's hands and pressed it softly on her tunic, speaking in a whisper.

"Mommy uses it to listen to your heart, remember? It goes like this."

She lifted the diaphragm above her heart to demonstrate. Her diamond blue eyes grew wide when Kya grabbed her hand in return, as if she wanted to guide her. Katara chuckled.

"You wanna help mommy listen? Good girl!"

Kya gurgled when her mommy tickled her tummy for a second, after which she allowed her to move the diaphragm over her chest, together. She arched her back and glanced over her shoulder, her cerulean eyes following her mother's hand when she placed the stethoscope on her back, too.

"Who's my good little patient, huh? You are! Yes, you are!"

Kya began giggling when Katara cooed to her in a silly voice and smiled at her. Her mother loved seeing that little gap between her two front teeth and hearing her sweet laughter. Her tiny hands took a hold of her chin to play with her. Katara leaned down a bit to rub their noses together, making her baby squeal with joy. She couldn't contain her own giggling either.

Aang knelt down next to the girls and tickled Kya's chin to get her attention. She let go of her mother's face to grab his own.

"Da-da!"

"That's right, baby. Daddy's here, too."

He shifted further away so she wouldn't start pulling at his beard again. Luckily, she settled for patting his nose and cheeks instead until her mommy finished auscultating her and put the stethoscope away.

"Okay, sweetie, let mommy finish patching up Appa," Aang said as he picked her up in his arms and walked around the desk to sit back on the armchair. Kya's eyes fixed on her fluffy friend undergoing surgery and she pointed a finger at the toy.

"Ab-bah owie!"

"'Appa owie'? It's okay, baby. Mommy isn't hurting Appa."

"What?" Katara wondered out loud while she tied up the loose ends of the thread she'd used to finish the job.

"She thinks that Appa feels pain after all of those stitches."

"Okay, then how about if mommy healed Appa so he wouldn't be 'owie' anymore?" she proposed. Katara waterbended some water over the paw she'd just fixed, pretending to heal the wound she'd sewn back together as if she was relieving the pain.

"Mam-ma goo!" Kya babbled proudly while Aang bounced her in his lap.

"Mommy did good, baby.. Mommy did good," he reiterated and kissed her temple, stroking her back while they watched. His wife bended the water back into the pot and checked her work one last time.

"There, done!"

Katara grinned as she stood up and walked over to her husband and daughter. She handed the toy back to Kya, who screeched with excitement upon seeing her sky bison intact.

"Here you go, baby. I gave it a double stitch, so it shouldn't break anytime soon."

She grazed her daughter's cheek while she had a look at the spot where Appa had hurt himself just to be sure that he was okay. Kya couldn't see the horrible tear anymore.

She gave her mother a blank stare because she didn't know how to say 'thank you', hence she simply grabbed her fingers, shook them gently and babbled something close to those two words.

"You're welcome, Kya. Muah!"

Her mother planted one more kiss into her hair.

"Thank you so much, Katara."

Aang stood up, cradling their baby and her plush buddy in his arms, and gifted her with another kiss on the lips.

"You're a miracle worker."

"Mmm.." Katara hummed in delight, locking her arms around his neck to envelop him and their baby girl in a hug.

"You're welcome."

"We should go now. You still have twenty minutes left to go grab a bite to eat."

Katara released her embrace and stared at the clock on the wall.

"You're right, Aang. That's probably a good idea."

They approached the back of the room, where Katara opened the window again so Aang and Kya could leave her office the same way they came in. He blew the bison whistle and the real Appa came flying in front of the window a couple of seconds later. She watched how he swiftly hopped outside and landed on the bison's head unharmed, grabbing the reins with his free hand.

"I'll see you back home, sweetie! Have a relaxing rest of the day at work!"

"I will. Bye, Aang! Bye-bye, Kya!" Katara said, waving to their little waterbender, who waved back at her.

"Buh-bye, mama!"

Katara waited for a minute, watching how the silhouette of his animal guide grew smaller as the trio flew back home towards the island, before she decided to go have something for lunch. When she spun around to drop the stethoscope on her desk, she saw that her husband had left her a small package there. Her heart melted when she opened it.

"Oh, Aang.. you shouldn't have."

It contained a few slices of blubbered seal jerky, some sweet buns for dessert and a banana. Besides the snack, he'd attached an apology letter to it. She read his handwriting.

"Sorry you had to skip lunch. I hope you enjoy it!"

She'd forgiven him the moment he'd stepped into her office.

[kristallioness]

"What mark would I get if I went ice dodging?" "Well, I don't know whether there is such a mark, but if it were up to me, I'd give you the mark of the caring, because you're taking such good care of me," Aang said and tickled her chin, prompting Kya to burst out in a giggle fit. "Thanks, daddy!.. Give me your hand." He let her feel his pulse for a few seconds. "Do you think this is fast?" she wondered. The airbender pressed his left index and middle finger a bit below hers. "I don't know. Seems like a normal rhythm to me," he replied with a shrug. "Well, I'd better have a listen to be sure." Kya dug inside her healer's bag until she pulled out her mother's stethoscope. She put it in her ears and grabbed the diaphragm before stepping in front of her daddy. She pressed the metal softly against his chest to listen to his heartbeat, moving it around in the same pattern her mommy usually followed. Aang hoped that the red and yellow fabric of his robes wasn't too thick and she could actually hear something. She did... (cont.) ----------x---------- Remember that time in June when I had to go to Tallinn by train for an interview about an internship (didn't get it) and I had a lot of spare time before that, so I used it to sketch this moment from my fanfic after I'd hopped by a health center to donate 6 ml of my blood to become a gene donor? In other words, I downloaded FireAlpaca and tested it out by doing a quick redraw. Not the most comfortable program for me, but maybe I'll get used to it when I practice more. In the meantime, have this cute pic of smol Kya playing healer with Aang. (Seriously, she's so tiny compared to him, just look at their family photo! I bet she got some really big hugs from her daddy when she was little.)

[kristallioness]

Out of breath

Summary: Aang and Katara take care of sick little Kya in the middle of the night.

Word count: 2,414

Author's note: If I wrote a prologue to this story, then this would be an epilogue to "An afternoon at the hospital" (here's an illustration). You don't really need to read the original to understand what's going on, it's all explained shortly very near the beginning. Just another doctor/healer mommy Katara fanfic, where both parents are worried about their seriously ill baby girl. Also, please let's pretend that Katara got a preventive annual flu shot at the hospital, which would explain why she isn't afraid of being too close to Kya (because pregnant women should avoid getting sick, especially from this particular deadly disease). Plus, motherly instincts!

----------x----------

Aang licked his fingertips and flipped the page. The small flame that burned above the palm of his hand gave him enough light to see the text. He was already on page 48, nearly halfway through the book he'd picked for the evening, or much rather, night.

The clock on his memorial island had struck one in the early morning some time ago. The only other source of light came from the lamps in the hallway of the temple, which reflected some of it through the entrance into the healing hut. The back of the room remained otherwise dark. This wasn't his usual sleeping spot.

Aang propped himself up a bit higher by the pillows under his left side. He pulled the book closer to continue reading, careful not to nudge his sleeping beauty. The 2-year-old didn't stir from the movement. She seemed to be asleep, but Aang wasn't entirely sure. Her heavy breathing and shivering body curled up against his bare chest, as well as their shared blanket tickling his side made him lose focus way too often.

They'd been to the hospital this afternoon. Katara had diagnosed their daughter with pneumonia, something that Aang had feared when he'd discovered Kya in such a weak state in the morning. They were both worried about her condition, hence they decided to take turns to stay awake at night and keep an eye on her.

Kya grimaced through her sleep, pulling the blanket tighter around her neck. Aang rubbed her back with his free hand, slightly firebending to keep her warm, but stopping as soon as he felt that she was burning up. He'd start blowing cool air on her temple to cool her down when that happened. It wasn't as effective as her mother's healing abilities, but it'd have to do.

His airbending was cut off when he heard the floorboards creak. Someone was walking in the dimly lit corridor. A couple of seconds later, someone joined them in the healing hut. Aang glanced over his shoulder, his eyes growing wide with surprise.

"Katara?" he whispered her name. His wife padded closer to them in bare feet. She was dressed in her pyjamas - a sky blue water tribe tunic embellished with white stripes along the edges, white undergarments covering her bottom and a sarashi bound across her chest. Her shift shouldn't have started for another 2 hours.

"What are you doing up so early?"

"Shh!.." she raised a finger to her lips and hushed him. Aang watched her quietly approach them, walking to the other side of the bed to have a look at their daughter. She squatted a bit and cupped his cheek instead, giving him a kiss between his eyebrows, an inch below the tip of his light blue arrow.

"Couldn't sleep. I'm worried about her," she whispered back, tenderly letting her hand run down Kya's head and her fingers to comb through her long loose hair. Aang grabbed her hand and lifted it above their daughter, lacing their fingers together.

"You don't need to be. I'm right here, I can handle it for a few more hours. You need your rest."

He eyed her flat stomach as she ran a couple of circles above the white waistband tied around her middle. They'd recently found out that she was expecting again. The airbender didn't want her to strain herself.

"I'm okay. I had a 3-hour nap. That's enough to keep me awake for now.." Katara argued and looked at the little bundle cradled against Aang's chest, his protective arm surrounding her.

"How's she doing?"

"I wish I could say that she's sleeping like an angel, but then I'd be lying."

"So.. poorly?"

Aang gave her a nod. Katara frowned as she tenderly grazed Kya's flushed cheek with the back of her hand, then let her fingers dance across her arm. She stopped near her tiny hand, softly pressing her index and middle finger against her wrist. Her pulse was really fast, too fast for her mother's liking. She stooped closer to her open mouth to hear how she was breathing. It sounded like Kya was gasping for air.

Katara hummed in thought. She spun around and quietly opened the doors of the cabinet on the wall, reaching for the stethoscope on the lower shelf. She decided to have a closer listen.

Having put the earpieces in her ears, she leaned over Kya's side of the bed. The little waterbender's hands were now tucked under her chin and the blanket was stuck in between them. Her mother couldn't do it from there without waking her up.

Instead, Katara pulled the blanket down from her back and laid the diaphragm on her shirt. The rustling of the clothing didn't bother her as much as she'd thought, but she still didn't like what she was hearing. Usually the sound resembled that of her husband's breathing, something the little girl had inherited from her father. But right now, Kya's breathing didn't sound like an airbender's at all.

"Any progress?" Aang wondered, his wife shaking her head in response.

"Not much," Katara replied in a hushed tone, moving the medical instrument over Kya's left lung, the one that was less infected. The corners of her mouth rose a bit.

"That's a little better.."

Aang smiled at that comment, too. He watched how his wife hung her stethoscope around her neck after she was done listening. Katara laid her cold hand on Kya's hot forehead. She turned around to step back in front of the cabinet to fetch a thermometer.

Both of them startled when the metal tip of her stethoscope hit the hard wood of one of the cupboards with a loud bang. Katara cringed and remained standing still, but it was already too late. The sound had woken their sick baby girl up. She started coughing.

"..Mmph.. Daddy?" Kya mumbled once she'd caught her breath and her cerulean eyes had trembled open. Her daddy stroked her cheek a couple of times.

"Hey, sweetie! Sorry about the scare. Mommy woke you up, huh?"

"Mhmm.." she agreed. The little waterbender glanced at her mother standing near the medicine cabinets in an awkward pose. She knelt down beside the bed and cupped her cheek.

"Hey, Kya! I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to wake you up.. How do you feel?"

"Tired, sleepy.. still weak," she said whilst rubbing an eye and releasing a yawn. Her mother chuckled.

"Of course you do. It's the middle of the night. But now that you're awake for a moment, do you mind if I give you a quick checkup?"

Kya's eyes grew wide and she cowered closer to her daddy.

"No, mommy! Don't hurt me!"

The memory of the painful injection still lingered in her mind. She didn't want a repeat of that so soon. Katara shifted closer and reached out a hand. Kya attempted to swat it away at first, but eventually let her mother grab her tiny one in her own and give it a gentle squeeze.

"I'm not going to hurt you, I promise. I just wanna take your temperature and, if you let me, I'd also like to listen to you," Katara assured her in a motherly tone. Kya stared into her daddy's grey eyes and, when he gave her a reassuring nod, she hesitantly did the same to her mommy.

"Good girl," Katara praised and patted her head before standing back up to finally fetch a thermometer. Having found it, she took a seat on the edge of the bed, after which Kya allowed her to sneak it under her arm. She also let her mother pull the blanket off her chest, but that only made her shivering worse.

"Aang, would you undo her shirt for me?" Katara spoke to her husband in a hushed tone while putting the stethoscope back into her ears. Aang fiddled with the buttons holding the front of Kya's pyjama together whilst Katara breathed on the diaphragm and rubbed it against the palm of her hand to warm it up. Next, she lifted the edge of her daughter's sarashi higher and tucked it underneath to listen. Silence prevailed for a minute, apart from Kya's wheezing.

"It's okay, sweetie.. it's okay.." Katara comforted her, tenderly stroking her cheek with her free hand to calm her down. Kya's heart was drumming away in a rapid rate, half due to her illness, half due to her being scared. Aang kissed her temple and rubbed at her side, his arm still wrapped around her in a protective manner.

"It's okay, Kya. Mommy's just listening to your heart. She wants to help," he murmured to their little waterbender, whose only reply was a short, but horrible cough.

"Can you do that again for me?" Katara asked, to which Kya complied. She stroked her daughter's temple and gave her a loving smile before removing the stethoscope from her ears.

"That's my brave little waterbender. You did great."

She pulled her baby girl's sarashi back around her chest and helped her button up the shirt. After that, she pulled the thermometer out from under her arm to check the measurement. The mercury inside the glass showed a high 38.4 degrees.

"Oh, my poor little waterbender.. You still have a fever. Do you want me to lower it a little so you'd feel better?"

Kya nodded, watching how her mommy handed the thermometer to her daddy so he could see the result, too.

"Do you see this? This is what your temperature is right now. And this is what your normal temperature should be," Aang explained as he showed it to her, but Kya didn't understand what the numbers or the glistening silver line in the middle indicated. She simply crawled back under the sheets for warmth and cuddled up to him.

In the meantime, Katara summoned some water around her hands from one of the pots in the corner of the room. She laid her hands on her daughter's forehead and began moving the water around in slow circles. The blue glow that came from her wet gloves lit up the back of the dark room.

Kya's shivering ceased a few minutes later. Her eyes were locked on to her mother the entire time she was using her healing abilities. The brilliant blue glow reflected from the metal parts of her stethoscope. Feeling a bit less cold, Kya snaked a hand out from under the blanket and reached for the shiny tip in her mother's lap. She looked at it curiously from every angle. Aang chuckled and grabbed her hand to softly press it on her chest.

"This goes here, so mommy can listen to your heartbeat. Or your breathing."

Kya tried to turn her head a little so she could look at her daddy. She decided to lay the diaphragm against his bare chest.

"Mommy listen to you, too."

Katara noticed and giggled at that gesture.

"That's right! Mommy listens to daddy, too.." she trailed off before she withdrew her hands and waterbended the used water into the sink. She was done bringing her daughter's fever down. She tucked her in and rubbed her tummy.

"Now, rest. Daddy and I will be right here if you need anything," Katara murmured to her little girl, running her hand down the side of her face and over her slightly-less-flushed cheek.

"I'm thirsty."

"Oh, would you like some water?"

Kya nodded again, after which Katara opened one of the cupboard doors to pick up a glass and fill it with fresh water from the sink.

"Here you go."

The little waterbender sat up in bed before her mother handed the glass to her so she could drink. Aang used the opportunity to get up as well. He went to the window opposite to the doorway at the other end of the room to crack it open.

"I'll just let some fresh air inside, it's getting kind of stuffy in here."

"Good idea, sweetie. It'll be good for her breathing.. You all done?"

Kya handed the empty glass back to her mother, then climbed under the sheets and curled up like a cocoon. She stared into her mother's diamond blue eyes and saw her smile as she stroked her cheek. The soothing sensation made her own cerulean eyes fall shut within minutes and she resumed sleeping.

Katara inched closer to leave a soft good-night kiss on her cheek. Aang joined her once he'd padded back to the bed. He laid his hands on her shoulders as he remained standing right behind her, offering a relaxing massage. Katara felt shivers run down her spine, but the feeling of pleasure was soon replaced with concern when it reminded her of having a fever. She stared at their ill daughter sleeping a bit more peacefully and sighed.

"Poor thing.. I wish there was something else I could do. As a healer, and a mother."

Katara sensed how Aang snaked his arms around her neck, his fingertips tickling it while he tried to remove her stethoscope. He leaned down to murmur into her ear.

"Well, actually you can. You've already taken such good care of her. Now all you gotta do is just take care of yourself. Please, sweetie, rest.. For me. For the baby."

Aang insisted by rubbing her belly with his other hand until she gave in and hummed in agreement. Sometimes she hated that he could get to her conscience so easily. But at the same time, she was glad that he possessed that kind of power over her.

Katara carefully lifted the blanket and crawled underneath, curling up around her daughter similarly to her husband. Aang helped her lie down and tuck her in so the two waterbenders could both get some sleep. Katara shifted closer and laid a hand on Kya's chest, feeling her uneven breathing. At least it wasn't as bad as it'd been a quarter of an hour ago. Lowering her fever must've helped after all.

She saw how Aang settled down in the bed right next to theirs and pulled the blanket on. He grabbed the book he'd been reading earlier to continue from where he'd left off. He watched how Katara's diamond blue eyes blinked several times while she tried to keep an eye on their little girl. Eventually her eyelids became too heavy and she fell asleep. Aang flipped the page and began reading the next chapter: "Breathing techniques", chapter 12, 'A simple cure for ailments'.

[kristallioness]

I sketched this cute moment from one of my most recent fanfics, "Playing healer with daddy", yesterday while I was riding the train to Tallinn and using the spare time I had during my stay in the capital. I knew I wanted to sketch something for pride month, so the first thought was Korrasami, but then I remembered my favourite lesbian cloudbaby! (And isn't it Father's Day in the USA next weekend, the 3rd Sunday in June? Happy early Father's Day to Aang!!! Estonians celebrate it on the 2nd Sunday in November, ha!) Healer Kya is very pleased since Aang's such a good patient for her. Guess who else was a good patient yesterday?.. Meeeeeeee! Why? Because I became a gene donor!

I voluntarily decided to give another gift (in the form of 6 ml of my blood) to my country for its centennial by becoming a gene donor. The Estonian gene storage of Tartu University has this storage of genes collected from Estonians, which they use to determine how genes work, what kind of people are prone to which diseases, who are more at risk, and also for doctors to determine what would be the best treatment/medicine to prescribe should they fall ill.

It's an amazing thing and I'd been wanting to do it ever since this special campaign was announced this year. The goal is to collect new genes from 100,000 Estonians for Estonia's centennial to better help develop our understanding of genes/medicine/medical care. They'd collected more than 50,000 samples so far, prior to this campaign.

And now, I'm among those 50,000 Estonians, proud of doing a good selfless deed and the new small poking mark (from the needle) on my right arm (it didn't hurt at all!). Besides that, all donors will get the results of the tests and analyses that have been conducted on their genes. I'll be expecting those within the next year from now since the first people who went to donate at the beginning of 2018 started getting results 5-6 months later.

Btw, I don't remember whether I've mentioned it before, but the date in the upper corner shows when I drew the sketch, and the weather/nature details remind me of what the weather was like on that day + it's a pretty illustration around the date. Also, the names of the months are in Estonian.

@madamebomb mentioned a little while ago that cursive handwriting is sort of fading away because it isn't taught at schools as much anymore. Well, it is still taught in Estonian schools and this is my beautiful handwriting, which has remained the same since my school years.

[kristallioness]

Playing healer with daddy

Summary: Kya practises her healing skills on Aang.

Word count: 3,002

Author's note: Indulgent.. this was very self-indulgent. And I enjoyed writing the whole thing cause it was fun and reminded me of how I used to play doctor with my parents (or stuffed toys). Aang and Kya need some more love, and I've written about her playing healer with Katara several times before, so.. It's her daddy's turn this time. There's a reference to one of my old fics called "Healing herself" near the end.

----------x----------

"Closer, daddy.. a bit more.. got it!" Kya declared happily before Aang put her down. He'd let her climb up on his shoulders so the little waterbender could reach for her mother's hat on the top shelf of the cabinet. He helped her tie the mauve strings together under her chin.

"Now go to my room and wait for me to come in," Kya said, pointing a finger towards the doorway leading outside of the healing hut.

"As you say, my little healer."

Aang patted her head before he formed an air scooter, hopped on and rode it into the corridor and made his way to his daughter's room like she'd ordered. The air ball gradually dissipated as he lowered himself to the floor. Sitting down on the rug in the lotus position, the airbender waited for his baby girl to catch up with him. She arrived less than a minute later, proudly strolling into her "office".

"Good morning, daddy! I'm your healer, Kya of the Southern Water Tribe," she greeted him with a bow, utterly in character. Aang returned the bow, releasing a short chuckle when he saw how the healer's hat fell forward and Kya had to straighten it for a second.

"How are you feeling today?" she asked once she was finished, putting her own healer's bag down on the carpet, right next to him.

"I'm feeling pretty good, thanks for asking."

"Does it hurt anywhere?" the little waterbender wondered as she stepped beside him and placed her hands on his arm, softly rubbing it to comfort her patient so he wouldn't be scared. Exactly the way Aang did for her when she was afraid of a procedure her mommy had to perform, such as getting a shot.

"Nope," the airbender answered with a shake of his head.

"Okay then! I'm just gonna do a quick checkup," she said with a smile. Kya knelt down on the carpet and began rummaging through her bag. It was a smaller version of her mother's, made especially for her and sewn together by Katara herself. The little waterbender had stuffed it with some of her toys as well as real medical instruments she'd borrowed from the healing hut.

"What are you gonna do to me first, healer Kya?" Aang wondered out loud while he waited for her to choose an item. She found a real thermometer and picked it up.

"First, I'll take your temperature," she explained as she stood up. Aang gave her a lift so she could reach her hand down his collar and below his robes. She placed the thermometer under his right arm.

"Got it?" Aang asked and checked whether it was in place.

"I think so.. Now hold it tight for a few minutes while I.." she trailed off as he released his hold, letting her hop off his other arm and walk over to her bag again. Her mother's otoscope was peeking out from the leather material.

"..look into your ears!" Kya finished her train of thought as she picked it up and scampered to her father's side. Aang leaned forward and slightly tilted his head the other way, allowing her to gently pull his left ear back a little before inserting the medical instrument. She repeated the same procedure with his right ear.

"Hmm.. everything looks okay," Kya said contentedly. She dropped the otoscope back inside her bag and dug out a wooden stick instead. She stepped in front of Aang, supporting a hand against his chest to reach up.

"Stick out your tongue and say 'Aahh'!"

"Aahh!" he mimicked, which made his daughter giggle, and let her look into his mouth as well.

"Your throat looks fine," she concluded a few seconds later. The little waterbender put the tongue depressor away and walked back over to him.

"Let me take a look at your temperature," she asked nicely, holding her hands out. She waited until Aang removed the thermometer, gave it a look himself and then handed it to her.

"36.6 degrees. That's completely normal. You don't have a fever at all, daddy," Kya praised, her hand running up and down his arm a few times.

"That's great news, my little healer," Aang said, stroking her back to return the gesture.

"What's next?"

Kya glanced at her healer's bag, holding a finger against her pouty lips. She thought for a moment, then remembered what she'd brought along.

"Oh! Sit on the bed!" Kya declared with excitement, practically bouncing on the spot. Aang stood up and took a seat on the edge of her bed, watching how she delicately put the thermometer back inside the bag and searched for something else. She ran over to him, a rubber hammer in her hands.

"I'm gonna check your reflexes."

Kya began tapping his right knee, doing so three times until Aang played along and kicked his leg up a bit, as if she'd hit a nerve. She tapped his left knee twice before he did it again. She started giggling when he let her continue even after the first hit, eventually giving in and kicking his left leg up a second time.

"Reflexes are fine!" Kya said through her laughter as she scampered back and knelt down on the carpet, putting the rubber hammer away.

"Daddy, how tall are you?" the little waterbender asked, glancing back at him.

"Pretty tall. I think the last time mommy measured me I was definitely something over 6 feet. 6 feet and.. 3 or 4 inches, maybe?" Aang tried to recall as he scratched the back of his head.

"Well, let's find out!"

Kya skipped over to him and offered her right hand.

"Come with me!"

She let her father grab it with his own to escort him to her imaginary height scale. Katara had one in her office at the hospital, but not in their healing hut in the temple. They'd have to pretend it was there in her bedroom. Kya stopped in front of the doorway.

"Stand right here!" she ordered, pointing to the floor. Aang pressed his heels against the wood and stood up straight. The little waterbender ran back inside her room to have a look further away. While she was busy figuring out his measurement, the airbender spotted some drawing supplies on top of a pile of empty papers on the table to his right.

"Hmm.. you're really tall, daddy! You must be even taller than mommy."

"Hey, Kya! I know how we can get an exact measurement."

"Really?" she gasped, clasping her hands together.

"Mhmm. Grab one of your pencils and come here."

The little waterbender did as she was told and ran to her father. He lifted her up on his arms and resumed his pose.

"Okay, now hold the pencil at the highest point on my head and draw a small horizontal line against the wall."

"Like this?"

Kya stuck out her tongue as she followed his instructions, trying to draw a neat line of the same height.

"Done?"

"Mhmm," she nodded. Aang stepped away from the door to admire her work.

"Good job, Kya! That's perfect! Now, did you happen to pack along a measuring tape?" he wondered, putting her back down on the ground so she could stand on her own two feet.

"Let me check!"

Kya scampered to her bag and shuffled inside for a while, until she caught one end of the plastic measuring tape.

"Found it!" she exclaimed as she brought the roll to him. Aang uncoiled it, grabbing the end that started with a zero. He held it up to the spot where she'd drawn the line while the little waterbender pressed the other end against the floor.

"What does it say?"

"6 feet and.. 4 inches."

The airbender squatted down to check the measurement his daughter had seen.

"You're right, my little healer. 6 feet and 4 inches," Aang repeated before he rewarded Kya with a kiss on her temple, making her giggle. She helped him coil the measuring tape back into a tight roll, after which she grabbed his fingers to guide him back into her "office".

Kya tossed the measuring tape back into her healer's bag and beckoned her patient to take a seat on the carpet. Aang sat down in the lotus position once more. His healer hadn't released his right hand, in fact, she seemed to be examining his palm rather intently.

"What are you looking at now?"

"I'm checking your pulse."

Aang hadn't noticed that two of her fingers were pressed against his wrist. She slowly turned his hand around, careful not to release her hold, and stroked the back of it with her free hand. She seemed to be admiring the pale blue arrow running along his limb.

"Why do you have these tattoos, daddy?"

"These tattoos show that I'm a master airbender. You have to master 36 levels of airbending or create a new technique to earn these. I received them from the monks when I was only twelve years old. I'm the youngest airbending master in history."

"Wow!.. That's so cool, daddy!" Kya gasped, her mouth wide open as she had forgotten about his pulse and was only focused on the colours inked to the back of his hand.

"Can I get tattoos, too?"

"I'm sorry, sweetie, but these tattoos are only meant for airbenders," Aang explained, placing a supportive hand on her shoulder when her gaze dropped to his feet.

"But you can ask mommy whether waterbenders can get tattoos or anything else that's unique to your culture," he added in an attempt to cheer her up.

"For instance, I know of some special marks that are given to young Water Tribe members when they turn 14 and are successful in their rite of passage - ice dodging."

"What's ice dodging?"

"Ice dodging means that you have to weave a boat through a field of icebergs. I'm sure mommy and uncle Sokka will tell you all about it when you're old enough. But what I can tell you now is that I went ice dodging together with them when I was twelve and we all received marks for it. Your uncle Sokka bears the mark of the wise, just like grandpa. Mommy got the mark of the brave because she was very courageous. And I carry the mark of the trusted, because mommy and uncle Sokka trusted me so much."

"What mark would I get if I went ice dodging?"

"Well, I don't know whether there is such a mark, but if it were up to me, I'd give you the mark of the caring, because you're taking such good care of me," Aang said and tickled her chin, prompting Kya to burst out in a giggle fit.

"Thanks, daddy!.. Give me your hand."

He let her feel his pulse for a few seconds.

"Do you think this is fast?" she wondered. The airbender pressed his left index and middle finger a bit below hers.

"I don't know. Seems like a normal rhythm to me," he replied with a shrug.

"Well, I'd better have a listen to be sure."

Kya dug inside her healer's bag until she pulled out her mother's stethoscope. She put it in her ears and grabbed the diaphragm before stepping in front of her daddy. She pressed the metal softly against his chest to listen to his heartbeat, moving it around in the same pattern her mommy usually followed. Aang hoped that the red and yellow fabric of his robes wasn't too thick and she could actually hear something. She did.

"Your heart sounds good, daddy. I'm gonna listen to your breathing now. Please take deep breaths!"

He obeyed her orders and began breathing much deeper as well as slower. The little waterbender moved the stethoscope from one side to the other, comparing the sounds coming from either lung, just like her mother would do.

"Daddy?" she whispered.

"Hmm?" Aang tilted his head and leaned forward a bit.

"Did you know that your breathing sounds different? Mommy says it's because you're an airbender," Kya commented in a hushed tone.

"You're right. It's because I have better control of my breathing technique thanks to my airbending abilities. And apparently you're born with it."

"I am? I didn't know that," she said, her cerulean eyes wide with surprise.

"Listen for yourself," Aang offered, grabbing her hand, which held the tip of the stethoscope, in his own. He tenderly laid it in the middle of her chest, tucking the diaphragm under the edge of her light blue tunic. Kya took a few deep breaths. It did sound similar to his.

"Wow.. You're right, daddy."

"I was amazed when mommy mentioned it to me once. You might be a healer and a waterbender, but you do have a little bit of an airbender inside you," Aang said with a loving smile, tickling his daughter's chest a little. Kya smiled back at him proudly.

"Your breathing sounds good too, daddy. I wanna listen to your tummy now. Mommy says you have to lie down to do that."

"Alrighty, if that's what mommy says.." Aang agreed and began lying down, but he forgot about the nightstand behind him. A hard knock against the wood followed.

"Ow!" he exclaimed and bolted right back up. Kya gasped.

"Are you okay, daddy?"

"Ow-ow-ow.. That really hurt," he said, rubbing the back of his head.

"Let me see."

Kya climbed up on her bed while Aang turned his back towards her so she could examine the minor injury.

"Is it bad?"

The little waterbender had a closer look - there wasn't a visible bump, but the spot was a tad red from the impact. She softly pressed a finger on it.

"I don't think so.. does this hurt?"

"Only a little, ow!"

"Don't worry, daddy. I'll heal your boo-boo," Kya comforted him before summoning some water from her pouch around her hands and laying them on his head. She moved the glowing liquid around for a minute or two.

"How does that feel, daddy?"

Aang carefully patted around the tender spot. The slight pain had subsided.

"Much better. Thank you, Kya!"

He grabbed her hands and waited for her to hop off the bed before gifting her with a loving hug. After that, Kya reached for her pillow. She fluffed it and then put it on the floor so Aang could support his head when he lay down again. Once he'd made himself comfortable, the little waterbender knelt down on his left side, put her mother's stethoscope in her ears and got to listen to his tummy.

"Sweetie, I'm home!" Katara exclaimed from the hallway. She'd returned from her grocery shopping in Republic City with their younger son. Baby Tenzin was cradled in one of her arms, held against her chest with a sling. Aang poked Kya's side.

"Mommy's home," he whispered. Kya removed the stethoscope from her ears.

"We're in here, mommy!"

"I'll be right with you two, I'm just gonna go put Tenzin in his crib!"

"Take your time!" Aang shouted back. He gestured for Kya to continue playing, but she was done listening to his stomach. He sat back up.

"Are you all finished with my checkup, healer Kya?"

"Almost, daddy. I just gotta give you a shot so you'll stay healthy."

"Oh.. will it hurt?" he wondered, putting on a worried expression while Kya shuffled the inside of her bag for her toy syringe.

"Only a little. I'll try to be as gentle as mommy."

"As gentle as me in what?" Katara asked as she walked in and leaned against the doorway, earning both her husband and daughter's attention.

"Mommy!" Kya exclaimed and ran over to hug her. Katara squatted down and embraced her little waterbender.

"What are you doing with my hat.. and my stuff?"

"I'm giving daddy a checkup. We're almost done, he just needs a shot," Kya explained, holding her toy up so her mother would see.

"Katara, help! I might need some emotional support here," Aang pleaded. Katara released a short giggle as she stood up and grabbed Kya's hand to let her escort her into her "office".

"Don't worry, sweetie. I'm here," she comforted him as she knelt down beside her husband and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. Aang watched how Kya grabbed his left arm, then pretended to be scared by closing his grey eyes until she gave him a fake injection with her toy syringe.

"Is it over?" he asked, peeking at his daughter with one eye. Katara kissed his cheek and rubbed his other arm.

"It's over," she murmured to him.

"You did really well, daddy," Kya said as she patted the spot where she'd given the shot. She also gave Aang a kiss on the cheek for being such a good patient.

"Thank you, my little healer!"

"Do you need some help packing?" the elder waterbender wondered as she gazed at some of the items scattered across the floor.

"No, thanks, mommy! I'll just bring your stuff back to the healing hut."

"Good girl," Katara praised as she watched her daughter put the toys and real medical instruments back inside her small healer's bag, then go out of her bedroom, leaving the two of them together.

"When was the last time you played healer with me?" she asked her husband, running a finger down from his shoulder, across his collarbone, then spreading her fingers and laying her palm above his heart.

"I don't know. But now that you mentioned it, I guess I should schedule an appointment with my healer. See, I've been getting heart palpitations each time I see her and she hasn't treated me for it yet," Aang answered, holding his hand above hers.

"Well, she is a very busy woman.." Katara said with a smirk before her lips met his for a more passionate kiss. She pulled away a moment later.

"But she has an open slot this evening, in her private office."

"I'll be there."

[kristallioness]

Bring your daughter to work day

Summary: Katara brings Kya along to the hospital so she can spend some time with her daughter and get some paperwork done.

Word count: 9,406

Author's note: I got the idea for this story after I'd written my review of "Turf Wars: Part One". It's also inspired by my own experience - how I used to visit my dad at his workplace just to play on his computer and what we did together to make the rest of the day more fun when I was a little girl. And no, my dad doesn't work at a hospital, he works at one of the best machine factories in Estonia. I don't know about anyone else, but visiting a machine/metal engineering enterprise for years, knowing every corner, every room, the surrounding territory, the tools and nick-nacks on each worker's desk - it becomes so familiar that I really feel at home over there. This is what I was trying to portray by having Kya visit her mother's workplace - the two of them goofing around to take a break from paperwork, playing with the available items (in this case, Katara's medical instruments), spending time together. @jinoras-light - I know you wanted some headcanons about Kya, so I think you're gonna love these involving her and her mommy. The plot starts from the evening - Kya and Katara have returned from the cafeteria after eating supper and the little waterbender begins playing with a plush Appa. Then it describes everything that happened up until that point and the events move forward from there. Just wanted to make this clear since it might get confusing if you don't notice where it cuts back to the past (it's the paragraph that begins with "When they arrived in the morning..."). Oh, you know how there's this saying called 'get your hands dirty'? I came up with a saying for healers - 'get your hands wet'! Also, there's a reference to one of my older fanfics called "Recovery". And the nutrition bar that Katara gave to Kya is Hematogen, which I personally like very much and have eaten many times throughout the years. I think it's more common around Russia and Eastern Europe (the former Soviet Union countries, including Estonia).

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"Mommy, can I play with that Appa?"

"Sure. Why don't you practise wrapping up his injured paw?" Katara reached for the plush toy on the hidden shelf underneath her desk and held it in front of Kya.

"Oh no! Which one is it?" the little waterbender gasped, grabbing the sky bison's face.

"Hmm.. I think Appa says it's this one," Katara pointed to its front right paw.

"Don't worry, Appa! I'll help you feel better!" Kya took the toy in her hands and scampered to the examination table. She attempted to safely push Appa up there while Katara fetched an elastic bandage from one of the cupboards. The elder waterbender lifted the younger one up on the bed next to the toy and handed her the necessary item.

It'd been a relaxing Saturday evening at the Republic City hospital. Katara needed to do some paperwork, hence she'd decided to go to her workplace during her day off at the weekend to catch up.

Kya wanted to accompany her since she wanted to spend time with her mother. Besides, she was used to visiting her mother's office - the familiar smell of herbs in the cabinets, the breathtaking view to the city and Air Temple Island from the vast window on the top floor, the similarity to the healing hut in their temple.

The place almost felt like an extension of their home, exactly like Aang's office at City Hall - another safe place Kya could always go to if she ever needed to be with her parents and they weren't on the island. Right now, Aang was at home taking care of a 2-year-old Tenzin with Bumi being there to lend a helping hand as well. Their older son had never been as fond of going to the hospital as their daughter. He figured he'd have a lot more fun, and get into mischief, by hanging out with dad.

Katara wouldn't even be surprised if her boys eventually burnt the house down. Leaving the three of them alone for almost an entire day ended with some sort of a mishap quite often. Bumi playing pranks on the acolytes, a training session gone wrong, something getting broken...

Katara released an exasperated sigh to take her mind off of that, hoping that everything will be alright when they return home tonight. She continued looking over the last few applications sent in by new members of staff, who'd recently been given a job at her hospital. Sure there were recruiters who handled the entire process, but nothing went by without getting the final approval from the head of the hospital, the best healer in the world herself.

Picking up the last application, she glanced at Kya, who was quietly playing with the sky bison toy. Katara would usually give it to her youngest patients to play with during their checkups so they wouldn't feel so scared. Her own little healer was nearly done wrapping the bandage around the pretend broken paw. Kya marvelled at the job well done, making sure it was tied together strong enough and fastened by two clips. She jumped off the examination table and ran to her mother to show her.

"Mommy, look! I did it! I wrapped up Appa's broken paw!" she grinned proudly, supporting the plush toy on the armrest. Katara lifted the toy in her lap to get a better look.

"You certainly did. It's all wrapped up nicely. Good job, sweetie!" Katara praised Kya by stroking her head.

"You know, thanks to your healing hands, Appa says he's feeling much better now. Would you be a dear and carefully unwrap the bandage so I can have it back?"

"No problem!" the little waterbender declared, grabbing the sky bison in her hands and scampering to the other side of the desk. She plopped down on the blue armchair opposite to her mother's and began untying the elastic bandage.

Katara thought that Kya had been very brave to last through the day in that boring office. Thanks to her imagination, she could learn new things or practise her healer skills with minimal supplies. And with the help of Katara's will to play along, the two of them had come up with some clever solutions to make the day more fun.

When they arrived in the morning, Katara had three huge piles of documents on the corner of her desk waiting to be filled out. She started with her patients' records first, filling in the descriptions of the treatments and medicine she'd given them, but hadn't managed to write down in great detail earlier due to such short breaks between the appointments.

Katara had already explained to Kya that she needed to focus on that task in silence back home. She brought along a pencil case with a bunch of pencils and found some white sheets of paper from her drawer for the little waterbender to draw on in the meantime. Kya seemed to enjoy that hobby very much and she didn't bother Katara too much. When her mother attempted to take a peek at what she was sketching, she quickly covered the piece she was working on with a clean sheet, telling her mother that it wasn't finished yet. Katara giggled and then dove back into her own paperwork, even though she couldn't wait to see what the pictures will look like.

Kya had finished three pretty masterpieces and Katara was more than halfway done with the pile of patient records by lunchtime. She escorted her daughter to the cafeteria, which was located more than a dozen floors below inside the hospital and where they had a light lunch. Kya didn't think much of the hospital food. Their home cooking was far more tasty. Katara wholeheartedly agreed, however, she'd gotten used to the bland taste of the dishes they had to offer.

There were a couple of employees who walked by to say hello to their boss and to meet her precious daughter. According to Katara, most of them were specialists, family physicians and those last two were nurses. Kya only recognized one of them, a cheerful old childhood friend of her mother's who she'd seen several times before - Niyok from the Southern Water Tribe. She'd really grown on Kya ever since they first met. Niyok liked playing with her, too, and she would sometimes visit them on Air Temple Island along with her sister Nutha.

Half an hour past noon, the two waterbenders returned to the office so that Katara could continue filling in the last quarter of patient records. During the first hour and a half, Kya managed to finish her fourth drawing of the day, putting it amongst the other three. By then, her mother felt like her arms could fall off any second.

"Sweetie, can you help me with something?"

"Of course, mommy. What is it?" Kya had put the drawing away, jumped off the armchair and walked over to her mother's side. She watched how she pulled off her right armband.

"I wanna teach you something about your healing abilities. Get your hands wet," Katara ordered, waiting for Kya to summon some water from one of the two large pots behind them at the back of the room. She waterbended the water around her small hands like gloves, ready for further instructions.

"Now, I want you to move the water up and down my forearm, like this," Katara grabbed Kya's right hand and moved it along her right forearm, exactly in the motion she described. She released her hold once the little waterbender began using both hands and got the hang of it. The water glowed a familiar bright blue colour, showing that she was actually healing.

"And what am I healing by doing this, mommy?" Kya wondered out loud.

"I've been writing for hours, so my arms are really tired. You're helping by untangling the knots in the muscles. It's even more effective when you gently press the path down with your fingertips, like this," she explained, taking a hold of her daughter's hand again to press her fingers down repeatedly. Kya attempted to copy the pattern. Katara felt a shiver run down her spine as her stiff forearm loosened up after being in a strained position for so long. She let her little healer continue for another few minutes until it felt tingly, like she'd just received a massage.

"Aaahh.. that's much better. Thank you, Kya," Katara softly rubbed her forearm, putting the armband back on.

"Don't you mean 'healer Kya'?" she asked playfully, waterbending the remainder of the water back into the pot and then climbing into her mother's lap.

"Thank you, my little healer Kya!" Katara corrected, then tickled her sides and peppered her cheeks with kisses, making Kya burst out in a giggle fit as she squirmed in her embrace.

After that refreshing experience, the master waterbender went on with filling in eleven more patient records. The younger one started work on her fifth drawing of the day.

Katara was so delighted to finish the biggest pile of documents an hour later that she decided to reward herself and Kya for being so obedient with a game of tag. Seeing that the waiting room was empty and there weren't any patients on that floor, they could run around the couches with ease and screech as loud as they wanted to.

"Okay, mommy, here are the rules: when I get behind the first couch, you can start chasing me. If I get back here in three laps, I win!" Kya pointed her finger around in a circle, acting like an important referee.

"Ready.. go!" she began running towards the seat and as soon as she was behind the corner, Katara sprinted right after her. Being a lot bigger than her daughter, she had to be careful not to hit herself against the coffee table in the middle nor against the edges of the couches. Luckily, Katara learned how to get through those thin spaces between them pretty fast and soon enough, she could catch Kya. She let her win the first time, though.

Their laughing and screams of joy echoed in the long corridor, reaching both the western and eastern wings. They must've run that same circle over a dozen times. In the end, Katara won three times and Kya managed to evade her four times.

"Alright, I think that's enough.. one more and then we head back to my office, okay?" Katara stooped slightly as she panted after their last race, wiping beads of sweat off her forehead. Kya nodded, doing the same to catch her breath.

"You remember how it goes? First one to run as fast as they can to the end of the eastern wing, touch the wall, run back and sit on the bench outside of my office wins."

"Mhmm, got it, mommy!" Kya said with a determined look on her face, taking a starting position next to her mother. The starting line was next to the elevator in the waiting room.

"On your marks.. get set.. GO!" Katara exclaimed. There was no way she was going to let Kya win this one without a fight. They dashed straight past the reception area and rounded the first corner equally, taking a sharp turn to their right to run to the end of the long corridor. The elder waterbender was in the lead by the time she reached the wall, gave it a strong pat and began heading back the other way. She almost crashed into the little waterbender, but jumped over her by stepping on another bench and giving herself a boost upwards. Kya nearly stopped in her tracks to marvel at that graceful move her mother just did, but she resumed running to still try and beat her. Katara reached the western wing in a few seconds and quickly sat down on the bench outside of her office. She giggled when Kya finally caught up with her and jumped into her lap to hug her.

"You won, mommy!"

"You were great, sweetie! I was so scared that I was gonna bump into you," Katara said, combing Kya's long loose hair.

"But you didn't! That move was so cool! Do it again!" the little waterbender begged, slightly bouncing in her mother's lap and making her chuckle.

"Maybe next time. C'mon, I still have two piles of very important papers to read through," she put her daughter down, stood up and grabbed her hand to guide her back inside. Kya scampered behind her mother's desk and opened the lowest drawer on the left where some of her patients' folders were stored in alphabetical order.

"Kya, what are you doing? Don't mess up my filing system!" Katara hurried to her side once she'd closed the door and noticed what she was doing.

"I'm not. I'm trying to find my own folder."

"Your folder? Why do you need your medical records?" Katara wondered with a puzzled look as she squatted down next to Kya and helped her search for her name from among those folders.

"It's a surprise," she replied, grabbing the folder in her hands once her mother found it and handed it to her. Kya took a seat in her armchair, placed her folder on the corner of the desk and continued colouring her fifth sketch while Katara moved on to the second pile - job applications.

After her mother had approved three of those, Kya remembered that she didn't have to be so quiet anymore. She was becoming bored of drawing, so she decided to finish colouring her last drawing after having some fun. She started looking at what medical instruments were scattered on the desk. She spotted a rubber hammer right under her nose.

"Mommy?"

"What is it, sweetie?" Katara asked, not taking her eyes off the paper she was holding.

"Can I play healer with you now? You promised," Kya pleaded. This time, the elder waterbender gazed at her daughter, seeing how she grabbed the hammer and looked at it curiously. She smiled lovingly at the sight.

"Of course you can," Katara said, watching how an excited Kya jumped off the chair, walked around the desk and stepped right beside her.

"Are you gonna check my reflexes first?" she tilted her head playfully, pushing herself a bit further away from her desk in case the little waterbender actually hits the right nerve.

"Mhmm. After all that running around, I wanna be sure your knees are okay," Kya nodded. Katara let her hit her left knee a couple of times. She frowned, she couldn't find the right spot.

"That's okay. You don't have to nail it the first time. Even I'm not that good. Just keep trying. Maybe try with the other one?"

Kya took her mother's advice and hit her right knee. Katara counted the number of times she missed. Five.. six.. seven... Her knee was starting to ache, so she merely kicked her leg up a bit at the ninth attempt to stop her.

"Wow! Did you see that, mommy?"

"I didn't just see it, I felt it. You almost hit the right spot. Good work, sweetie!" Katara rewarded Kya with a kiss on the cheek. The latter felt so inspired by her accomplishment that she scampered back to her armchair to finish colouring. She was done half an hour later.

Kya glanced at her mother, she was busy writing something on one of the applications. The little waterbender used the opportunity to hide all five of her drawings between her medical records and slip the folder in between the last pile. After that, Kya handed the rest of the clean sheets of paper back to her mother, who put them away in the drawer, completely oblivious to what she'd done with her drawings. Next, she picked up her pencils and put them inside her pencil case, after which she walked over to the door. Katara's shoulder bag was hanging from the coat rack next to it. Kya dropped the pencil case inside so she wouldn't accidentally leave it behind.

Soon it was time for the two waterbenders to eat supper in the cafeteria. The clock on Avatar Aang Memorial Island had struck five in the evening almost half an hour ago. When the bell inside the clockwork rang six times, Katara and Kya's tummies were full. They'd chosen a table right next to one of the windows, which the elder waterbender had cracked open once they were done with their plates. Now they were breathing in some fresh air and gazing at Republic City all lit up at nighttime.

"Look, mommy! There's our home!" Kya pointed towards Air Temple Island. She also spotted her daddy's huge statue on the other island, which was located quite close to theirs.

"Mhmm, I can see it, sweetie," Katara looked outside, too, sipping some of her tea.

The hustle and bustle going on in the streets made this metropolis seem so alive. People who had to work even during the weekends were beginning to head home. Others were enjoying a nice walk or riding their ostrich horse carriages through the traffic jams to reach their destinations. There were two police airships flying in the night sky, further away from the hospital. Kya heard a siren, wondering whether it was an ambulance or a police carriage driving by.

"How's auntie Toph doing? And baby Lin?" she wondered. Katara looked at her daughter, putting the empty tea cup down on the table.

"She's doing fine. I just spoke to her on the phone two days ago. And little Lin is growing into quite a healthy girl. Auntie Toph is having trouble getting her to stop being so clingy all the time, so she called me for some advice."

"Lin is exactly like Tenzin. He likes being close to you, too, mommy," Kya concluded, making Katara chuckle fondly at the thought.

"That's right. So were you when you were little," she booped her daughter's nose with her finger, which prompted her to laugh as well.

"But when it concerns Lin, I believe that she misses her mommy very much, because her mommy has to spend a lot of time away from home catching bad guys. And ever since her daddy, your uncle Kanto, left them behind, it's been hard for her to spend so much time alone. At least I think that's why she's so clingy.. Don't tell your auntie Toph I said any of this, though! She'll crush me if she finds out," Katara scratched the back of her head. Kya simply giggled and promised not to say a word. She didn't want her auntie Toph to hurt her mommy.

"C'mon, let's go upstairs!" Katara picked up their trays of empty plates to put those away and began heading towards the elevator, quickly followed by Kya.

Back in her office, the little waterbender wanted to practise her waterbending, so Katara went through some simpler forms together with her before letting her try those out for herself for a while. Kya had already mastered keeping the water ring flowing around her body thanks to Aang teaching her when Katara had been sick. She could easily use it to stream the water in various ways, forming snake-like shapes or small bubbles. Or simply learn how to direct the water towards another waterbender, that being Katara, and take control of it again at just the right moment without losing a drop when her mother waterbended it back towards her.

After practising for almost an hour, Kya waterbended the water she'd been using back into one of the pots. At the sound of the clock striking seven times, she walked over to the large window behind her mother and looked outside. The view was from a much higher point, the pedestrians down below looked like little ants crawling around the streets in an orderly fashion. The little waterbender squinted to get a better look at their island. She spotted Appa flying above it along with two other sky bison. She'd recognize their big fluffy buddy anywhere.

As she happened to stand at the back of the room, she noticed a plush sky bison on a shelf underneath her mother's desk when she turned around. The toy looked similar to the one she had in her bedroom. Kya asked whether she could play with that one. Katara said 'yes' and presented her with a problem - Appa having a broken paw.

Now the little waterbender was busy untying the elastic bandage she'd used to wrap up the pretend broken paw. She rolled up the bandage and put it on the desk, slightly nudging it closer under her mother's nose.

"Thank you, Kya!" Katara picked it up once she noticed that her daughter was done with it to place it back in the proper cabinet. Kya continued snuggling that Appa plush. It certainly looked more secondhand than hers with all the loose threads and the coarse fur. She counted the stripes on its back just in case. Four.. five.. six! They were all there.

The little waterbender plopped back against the armchair and sighed. Her cerulean eyes ran across the room, but she couldn't think of anything fun to do alone. She wanted to play with her mother.

"I'm hungry."

"Sweetie, we ate supper at the cafe less than two hours ago," Katara protested while writing something down on the last job application.

"But, mommy!.. It wasn't as yummy as what you make at home. I just want a snack," she whined.

"Oh, alright.. come here," Katara beckoned Kya to approach her. She dug in one of her drawers for a while until she found a small pill bottle. She gave it a shake before opening the lid and dropping three tiny yellow balls in the palm of her hand.

"Here you go," Katara held them in front of Kya's nose. She tilted her head and eyed the round pills.

"What are these?"

"Candy," Katara barely managed to finish the word before Kya grabbed all three pieces and stuffed them in her mouth. After a few seconds of moving them around in her mouth and licking off the outer layer with her tongue, she made a very sour face as her lips puckered.

"Bleh! It's soooo sour!" the little waterbender cried, but she didn't spit them out. She swallowed quickly. Katara giggled as she picked up an empty glass and went to fetch some water from the sink.

"That's because those were vitamins meant for children. They taste like lemons from the inside, but sweet on the outside. Here, drink this," Katara sat down on her knees and handed Kya a glass of water. She took a few sips.

"That was not nice, mommy!" Kya knit her brows, then continued drinking. Katara chuckled, her angry face was too funny to be taken seriously.

"You're right, I'm sorry for tricking you. I'm gonna make it up to you. Finish that water and I might just have something else that's edible.." Katara said, opening another drawer to take a peek at what's inside. She pulled out something bigger, something that reminded them of a candy bar. Kya swallowed the last drop of water and handed the glass back to her mother, who'd unwrapped the top of the bar.

"And what's this?" she pointed a finger towards the brown sweet.

"It's a nutrition bar. That means your body will get a lot of good vitamins and other nutrients when you eat it, so you can grow into a healthy little waterbender. It tastes like dark chocolate."

Kya quirked an eyebrow, she was still suspicious whether her mother was telling the truth. Katara took a small bite to prove that it tasted good.

"Mmm... Do you want some?" she offered the rest to Kya, who took it in her hands and then bit off a larger piece. This time, she chewed it carefully to understand what it tasted like.

"Hmm.. You were right, mommy. It does taste like chocolate. Not as sweet though, but still good."

"You happy now?" Katara patted her daughter's head. She nodded and walked back to the armchair opposite to her, sitting down next to the plush Appa to enjoy her snack. A few minutes later, the master waterbender happily pushed two neat piles of documents to the left side of her desk.

"There.. done! Now I only have one more thing left to do. Would you like to help me? It's really easy and it won't take long."

"Only if I can play healer with you again," Kya replied, biting into the last piece of the nutrition bar and handing the wrapper to her mother, who threw it away in a trash bin.

"You must be really bored by now, huh?" Katara glanced at her daughter, seeing how she nodded in agreement.

"Okay, but what do you wanna do?" Katara asked, waiting for an answer by putting the patient records she'd filled out during the first half of the day back in the lower left drawer in the correct alphabetical order. Kya looked around the items scattered on her mother's desk and her gaze fixed on a cup containing a couple of things.

"Can I use these?" she pointed towards the medical instruments. There were several wooden tongue depressors, an otoscope and a thermometer in there. The elder waterbender stopped organizing her folders for a second to look at what her daughter had chosen, she smiled.

"Sure," Katara closed the drawer and stood up, grabbing the last as well as the smallest pile of documents. She put the stack on the examination table, then walked over to Kya to pick her up from the armchair and carry her up on the bed, too. Katara also reached for the cup Kya had chosen, bringing it along with her as she took a seat on the examination table right next to her daughter.

"What can I do to help, mommy?" Kya asked as Katara lifted her onto her lap and placed the cup on the nursing trolley, which was pushed right next to the examination table. It was more convenient to have the patient sit close by while Katara prepared the equipment she needed to give an injection.

"Well, I need to arrange these patient files for appointments coming next week. I thought that maybe we could get through them faster if you helped me read the dates and times so I can sort them according to the days."

"I can do that!"

"Great! But first, what would you like to do to me, healer Kya?" Katara smirked as she emphasized the title. The little waterbender looked behind her, thinking which item inside the cup she should pick first. She decided to measure her mommy's temperature, so she reached for the thermometer.

"I wanna be sure you don't have a fever after working so hard all day," Kya said in a concerned voice, making Katara giggle. She attempted to shove the thermometer underneath her mother's short-sleeved water tribe coat, but the fur collar was too small for her to reach any further from that angle. Katara grabbed the thermometer from Kya's hand to give it a try. Having lifted her left arm up a bit and moving her tunic out of the way, she managed to place it under there. The elder waterbender pressed her arm against her side and held her hand on her belly.

"That should keep it from slipping away. Would you like to check?"

Kya touched the bump below the coat and tried to move it, but the tip of the thermometer didn't seem to budge too much. Katara held it tight.

"I don't think it's going anywhere," the little waterbender agreed, after which her mother nodded and grabbed the first patient's file in her right hand.

"Alright, let's see here.. on which day does this person have an appointment with me?" Katara wondered out loud, holding the folder closer to Kya so she could read the date and time written on top.

"Umm.. on Tuesday at 2 p.m."

"Okay, so this one goes into the 'Tuesday' pile.. what about this one?"

"Wednesday, 9.45 a.m."

Katara arranged the folders into five different stacks according to the days - from Monday to Thursday in separate piles, Friday and, if there were any scheduled for the rest of the weekend, in one. Before she reached the middle of the unorganized pile, she found a folder that didn't have a time for an appointment written on it.

"Wait a minute.. this is your file, sweetie!" Katara exclaimed. Kya looked at it curiously, nodding as she recognized her own name.

"Kya.. is everything okay? Or do you wanna make an appointment with me because you're sick?" Katara's voice became rather serious. She dropped her daughter's medical records on the examination table and cupped her cheek. She began to worry that maybe something was horribly wrong and her baby girl didn't have the courage, or the heart, to tell her. That wasn't the reaction the little waterbender had expected.

"No, mommy! I'm okay, honestly," Kya laid her own small hands on her mother's to convince her that this wasn't the case. She was still frowning.

"You sure?" Katara asked again, receiving a nod for an answer.

"That's not the reason why I put my folder in the pile. I wanted to surprise you, mommy. Look inside the folder!"

Kya watched how her mother hesitantly opened the folder by lifting the cover. She gasped and covered her mouth with her right hand. Her frown turned into a smile and tears welled up in the corners of her diamond blue eyes.

"Aawww! K-Kya..." was all Katara could say as she sighed in relief and began wiping her cheeks dry. She felt so awkward for misreading the entire situation. Kya wrapped her arms around her mommy's waist in an attempt to comfort her with a hug. Katara supported her chin on her daughter's head and pulled her as close as she could by using her right hand, mindful of the thermometer under her left arm. She didn't wanna ruin their playtime, too. Kya squeezed her a bit tighter when she felt a few tears drop on the top of her head.

"Do you like it?" she asked in a hushed tone after a minute had passed in silence, her mother's quiet crying being the only sound filling the room. Katara stroked her back and sniffed.

"Mhmm.. I love it," she nodded, rubbing her cheek against Kya's temple.

"Don't you wanna see the rest?"

"Of course, show me," Katara said with a more chipper tone, releasing her embrace and wiping off the last of her tears. Kya picked up the first drawing she'd seen and began explaining in great detail what she'd drawn. There were two girls sitting, the bigger one was healing a scrape on the smaller one's knee. The water around her hands was coloured in a pretty shade of cyan.

"That's you healing my boo-boo, mommy."

"Oh, I remember this. That was like.. three weeks ago?"

"Mhmm," the little waterbender nodded, a proud smile on her face, and waited for her mother to finish marvelling at the drawing. She handed her daughter the next one, laying it on top of the first.

"And what's going on here?" Katara chuckled as she looked at the second drawing. It seemed so cheerful and full of life thanks to the bright colours Kya had used.

"Daddy's playing his flute and Bumi and I are dancing."

The master waterbender recognized her husband in the familiar palette of reds, oranges and yellows. If not that, then the sky-blue arrow tattoos were a giveaway. Momo was sitting on the emerald green grass right next to him. Her two children, as well as her husband, were wearing flower crowns and clearly jumping around with joy. Kya even drew a few musical notes above them.

"I adore all the bright colours you used. It really brings the drawing to life. And this is such a precious moment."

"Thank you, mommy!" Kya said, giving her a quick hug.

"Let's not forget to show this one to daddy when we get home. I'm sure he'll love it!" Katara lifted her daughter's chin up to look into her glistening cerulean eyes. She beamed at her.

"Good idea!"

"Now.. what else do we have here?" the elder waterbender wondered, seeing how the little one reached for the third drawing.

"Another drawing of me?" she quirked an eyebrow. Kya slid a fourth piece of paper out from underneath that one, holding the two pictures side by side so her mother could see both at the same time.

"Wow.. is my hair really that poofy?" Katara blushed and combed the fingers of her right hand through her locks. Kya merely giggled.

"Maybe.. I just really like it because I think it looks pretty on you. Your hair is so long and soft, just like mine," Kya explained, patting her own head a couple of times.

"So you wanted to show that by making it seem so poofy?"

"Yeah."

The top drawing was a close-up of Katara. She was in awe of how well the little waterbender had captured all of her details - from the beads in her hair loopies to the carving in her mother's necklace, the blue eyes and even the patterns around the fur collar of her coat. The other drawing was a full body shot of her wearing some of her healer equipment.

"That was really nice of you. But, what am I wearing in this picture?"

"That's your healer's belt."

"I'm impressed! How did you remember it so well?"

"I saw an ambulance worker at the cafeteria earlier when we were having lunch. He was wearing it. And I also drew your pouch, see?" Kya pointed to a black-and-brown striped semicircle, which was drawn near the figure's waist.

"Yes, I see it, sweetie. And what's this long shiny necklace?"

"That's not a necklace! That's your stethoscope, mommy!" she corrected, making Katara laugh. Kya had based the design of that medical instrument on the one she saw on her mother's desk, painting the tube a matt black. Her mother marvelled at the two different depictions of herself.

"These are lovely. Is there anything else you wanna share with me?"

"Just one more.." Kya leaned forward to pick up the last drawing she'd slipped between her medical records.

"Wow! What is this?" Katara said, her mouth remaining agape as she ran her right index finger down the white uncoloured edge of the paper.

"It's a picture of our family. Look, there's you and daddy! Tenzin is in your arms. Bumi and I are standing next to daddy. And I didn't forget Appa and Momo!"

Kya described everything perfectly - it was a drawing of their entire family standing in front of the temple. She'd drawn her parents standing really close to each other, which was such an irrelevant little thing considering the context of the whole picture. But if that was the way Kya saw her parents in their domestic life - being loving and supportive of each other - then it was all Katara could've hoped for and it melted her heart.

She was also amazed at how well her daughter remembered the details of the courtyard - the bridge going over the small pond, the exterior of their home, even the tower of the temple. All coloured in pretty shades of grey, yellow and blue, with a bit of emerald green for a couple of bushes in the background. All five of them fit right in front of Appa, Momo was sitting on top of the sky bison's head.

"This one's my favourite. It's so beautiful!" Katara smiled.

"Really? Thanks, mommy!" Kya hugged her from her middle again.

"Really. These are all beautiful. Shall I put these in my shoulder bag so we wouldn't forget to take them back home?"

"Okay."

"But before I do that, maybe you'd like to take a look at my temperature?" Katara offered, carefully pulling the thermometer out from under her coat. The reading was probably ready minutes ago and she'd been wanting to move a bit more freely for a while now.

"Oh! Yes, please!" Kya slightly bounced in her lap and held out her hands, waiting for her mother to hand it over. Both waterbenders stared at the mercury inside the glass.

"36.6 degrees, that's completely normal. Right, mommy?" Kya looked up at Katara with her big cerulean eyes, sensing how she let a hand run down her back.

"That's right, sweetie."

"No fever, yay!" the little waterbender clapped her hands together as she let her mother place the thermometer back into the cup. After that, Katara lifted Kya up in her arms for a second to lay her down on the bed so she could stand up and stretch her legs. She grabbed the five drawings to put those among the rest of the drawing supplies already packed up inside her shoulder bag.

"Alright, my little healer.. now where were we with these appointments?" Katara wondered as she walked back to the examination table, took a seat and lifted Kya back on her knees. She pushed her daughter's medical records a bit further away from the other stacks so she wouldn't forget to put it back in its proper drawer. The two waterbenders continued sorting the rest of the folders for almost a quarter of an hour.

During that time, the clock on Aang Memorial Island had already struck eight in the evening. As soon as they'd arranged half of the pile, Katara allowed Kya to choose the next item she wanted to use to play checkup. She picked one of the many tongue depressors.

"Stick out your tongue!"

Kya burst out in a giggle fit when Katara blew a raspberry.

"Cut it out, mommy! I wanna look at your throat!" she said through her laughter, but seeing her mother's funny face only cracked her up. Eventually Katara started giggling, too. They took a minute to get it out of their system.

"Open wide!" Kya asked nicely once she'd calmed down.

"Aahh!"

Katara obeyed her little healer like a good patient, letting her look inside her mouth for a few seconds.

"So.. how did it look?"

"Okay."

"Does that mean I can do this?" Katara asked before she began peppering Kya's face with kisses, trying to get her to laugh again. It certainly worked. The little waterbender squirmed in her mother's embrace until she stopped.

They resumed sorting the second half of patient files after that, with Kya helping Katara by reading the days and times of the appointments out loud. By the time there were only four folders left, the little waterbender crawled off her mother's lap to fetch the last medical instrument she hadn't used already. Katara glanced at Kya as she crawled closer to her right side and stood up, balancing herself by holding onto her shoulder. Her mother didn't say a word, she simply tilted her head in the opposite direction a little bit so she could examine her ears better by looking into them with the otoscope.

"Ow! Ow-ow-ow.. Kya, be careful! Pull my ear back a little before you insert it in there," Katara warned her, grabbing her right ear and pulling it back herself since Kya was already hurting her. She carefully withdrew the medical instrument from her mother's ear.

"Oops! I forgot.. I'm so sorry, mommy! I didn't mean to hurt you," Kya said, a sad frown on her features as she stroked the back of her head. The gesture made her mother smile.

"It's okay, sweetie. I forgive you. Accidents happen. Why don't you try again?"

Katara looked down to her left and waited until Kya went on with her second attempt. She followed every step correctly this time. She crawled to the other edge of the bed and repeated the same procedure with her left ear. Katara tilted her head to the right as she read the date of the appointment written on the last patient's folder.

"All done?" she asked when she felt Kya remove the otoscope and heard her drop it back inside the cup. The little waterbender hopped onto her lap and wrapped her arms around her middle.

"Mhmm," she nodded.

"Good, because I'm done, too. See?" Katara waved a hand towards five piles of documents, all sorted according to the days and in order according to the times of the appointments.

"That's great, mommy."

"What do you say, should we call daddy to come pick us up? Or do you wanna read some new waterbending scrolls with me for another hour?"

Katara had agreed with Aang that if she didn't finish early, he'd come after them at ten o'clock. Otherwise, she would call him on the phone to tell him to fly Appa to the hospital sooner. Kya pouted and held a finger in front of her lips for a few seconds to think.

"Hmm.. do those scrolls have pretty pictures in them?"

"They're called illustrations, sweetie. And yes, some of them do," Katara shrugged.

"Then, okay!" Kya grinned. She jumped off her mother's knees and ran to her armchair to take a cosy sitting position while she waited for her mother to join her. Katara lifted the separate piles of patient records into one, starting with the appointments on Monday and the ones scheduled for the weekend remaining at the bottom. She carried the heavy pile of documents on the corner of her desk, not forgetting to put Kya's medical records back in the lower left drawer. The little waterbender scampered to the nursing trolley to place the cup with the medical instruments she'd already played with back on the desk, too. Katara noticed it.

"Thank you, sweetie!"

She turned off the lights in the ceiling, leaving only the table lamp on. Katara thought that maybe reading in a more dim room would give her daughter the feeling of being at home, in her own bed, and help her fall asleep.

She sat down in her armchair and, seeing how Kya eagerly held out her hands, picked her up and lifted her onto her lap. Katara opened a drawer to grab one of the new scrolls she'd recently received as a gift from the Northern Water Tribe, but hadn't managed to read yet. After that, she slouched a little bit before opening the scroll to begin reading, allowing Kya to snuggle up to her chest.

The little waterbender gazed at the few pretty illustrations of waterbending, which were drawn at the top of the text. They weren't much to look at, she was done admiring them in less than a minute. She tried to read the first paragraph of the text below, but the letters reminded her more of fuzzy scribbles than words or sentences.

She sighed and raised her hand a bit higher, laying it above her mother's heart. Her fingers grazed the soft blue fabric of her coat. Katara lifted her left hand from the armrest and wrapped it around Kya to offer her some warmth and hold her close. Her baby girl looked up at her with her big cerulean eyes, resting her head on her chest. Sensing her mother's calm breathing helped her feel relaxed, too.

Kya stared at the shadows formed on the wall to their right, the scroll in her mother's right hand, the Appa plush she'd left on the other armchair. Everything seemed so still, the office was quiet. If she didn't know better, she would've guessed that they were at home, her mother was reading her a bedtime story and she was getting ready to go to bed. But she wasn't tired. She tried to focus on her mommy's heartbeat and let that lull her to sleep. Instead, she had an idea - if she wasn't sleepy, she might as well play a little bit more.

Katara's eyes widened when she saw Kya slip out of her embrace, slide off her and walk away.

"Kya, where are you going?"

"Nowhere," she said, merely taking a step closer to the desk to grab the stethoscope. Now Katara understood. She smiled, waiting for Kya to climb back onto her lap. She welcomed her daughter back with a kiss on her forehead.

Katara didn't let Kya's playing bother her, or at least she thought it wouldn't bother her, hence she carried on reading through the scroll. The little waterbender placed the earpieces into her ears and grabbed the diaphragm. First, she lifted the white fur trimming on the lower half of her mother's coat and snaked the other hand under there to listen to her tummy. She moved the stethoscope around underneath the coat, but that only made Katara want to giggle because it was tickling her, badly. She managed to stifle her laughter pretty well, though.

Katara heaved a sigh of relief when Kya stopped tickling her from her stomach. She pulled the metal end of the stethoscope out and laid it on her mother's chest. Being covered up by three layers of clothing - including a sarashi, a navy blue tunic and the water tribe coat - made it very difficult to hear any vibrations. But Kya liked to pretend like she could hear something nevertheless.

Katara glanced at Kya, her chest swelling with pride when she felt her baby girl go through a familiar pattern while pretending to listen to her heart, then her breathing. She seemed so focused and in character, like a true healer.

Kya tugged at her fur collar and placed the diaphragm above it on the bare skin below her collarbone, practically under her neck. At least she could hear her mother's heartbeat from there. Lub-dub.. lub-dub.. lub-dub... It was remarkably slow, the rhythm ever so soothing. Her body language spoke the same. Katara must've been utterly relaxed. She noticed how Kya was listening from a spot where she could actually hear something. She took a few deep breaths to let her listen to her lungs, too.

Kya yawned as she turned the chestpiece, then laid it back on the same spot to listen with the bell, too. That recurring cadence was starting to lull her to sleep. She rubbed at her eye before taking the stethoscope out from her ears. Katara stared at her wide-eyed as she placed it into hers instead.

"Hold this," Kya whispered, then resumed her cosy spot from before, snuggling up to her mother's chest.

"Do you wanna listen, too, mommy?" she looked up at her with her big cerulean eyes.

"Uh.. okay," Katara merely shrugged. Kya grabbed the diaphragm and slid it under her own light blue tunic, pressing it softly against her chest. She held it above her heart, both hands tucked below her chin. The little waterbender took a deep breath before she closed her eyes. She was too tired to put the medical instrument away, hence she'd decided to let her mother hold on to it. Her breathing became even, she was curled up like a baby in her safe place. She fell asleep.

Katara had watched what she'd done, feeling slightly puzzled at first. When she saw that Kya fell asleep, she figured her little waterbender was exhausted and just wanted to go to bed. And right now, that bed meant being snuggled up close to her mother.

Katara snaked her left hand back around Kya's middle to hold her close. She didn't move at the contact, but she held the stethoscope tight, like she was cuddling one of her toys. Katara could hear Kya's slightly faster heartbeat, but it remained within normal range for a child her age. She adjusted the headset so it wouldn't hurt her ears.

Listening to that steady rhythm was comforting, but also starting to make her sleepy, too. Katara yawned, but tried to read through the longest paragraph on the scroll. She blinked after every sentence, then after every single word.. She stopped stroking her daughter's arm. Her right hand slowly dropped on the armrest and her diamond blue eyes gradually fell shut. The two waterbenders had both fallen asleep.

Almost an hour had ticked by when Kya woke up. She'd heard the last few bongs coming from the clock under her daddy's statue. It was loud enough to be heard all the way back to the furthest point of Republic City, even when the windows of the buildings were closed. The same applied to the hospital in the heart of the capital. It was nine o'clock. The little waterbender yawned and looked up at her mother.

"Mommy?" Kya whispered a few times, but she didn't budge. Katara was completely out of it. She looked around her mother's office, everything was so quiet. Silence seemed to prevail in the room. Daddy had promised to come pick them up in an hour. Kya didn't wanna wake up her mommy either.

She summoned some water around her left hand, using the tentacle like an extension of her arm to reach for the Appa plush on the opposite side of the desk. Kya carefully waterbended the toy onto her mother's belly and grabbed it so it wouldn't fall down. She waterbended the water back into the pot and cuddled her new companion, snuggling against her mother's chest and closing her cerulean eyes to nap for another hour. Katara released the scroll in her right hand, leaving it hanging on the armrest, and wrapped her hand around the plush sky bison through her sleep. She mumbled a little bit, but otherwise remained lost in her dreams.

It was five minutes past ten in the evening when there was a gentle knock at the door. There wasn't an answer, so Aang quietly opened it and peeked inside.

"Katara? Kya?"

His grey eyes grew wide as he stepped inside his wife's dimmed office. That certainly wasn't the picture he imagined he'd stumble upon in his mind. His girls were sleeping. Having closed the door, Aang tiptoed over to the armchair and squatted down next to them, observing their weird poses.

Kya's head rested above Katara's heart, slightly rising and falling according to the pace of her mother's breathing. She was curled up in the fetal position on her tummy. She was cuddling the plush sky bison and something else seemed to be stuck between her and the toy. Aang followed the tube of the stethoscope, seeing that it reached Katara's ears. He chuckled at the sight. How many times had she fallen asleep on his chest by listening to his heartbeat? He'd lost count during their first years of being together as a couple.

Aang stared at their tranquil features - Katara and Kya looked so much alike. Same pretty blue eyes underneath those lashes, Kya had her mother's cute widdle nose, her luxuriant brown locks, even her smile. But she had the spirit of an airbender, his optimistic view on life, his carefree attitude from his childhood. And apparently, even his snore.

Aang tenderly stroked Kya's head, slowly waking her up.

"Mmm.. daddy?" she said, releasing a short yawn.

"Hey there, sweetie! What'cha doing?" Aang smiled at her. He kept his voice down in order not to startle Katara.

"I was sleeping," Kya said as she rubbed an eye.

"Do you wanna go home now?"

"Mhmm."

"Come here," Aang said fondly, carefully lifting Kya into his arms along with the plush sky bison she was holding onto. She hugged him tight.

"What were you and mommy doing before you fell asleep?" Aang asked with amusement as he stared at his wife practically sprawled out in the armchair, still sleeping peacefully. He'd noticed the waterbending scroll on the armrest, too.

"Mommy and I were reading that scroll, but I became bored, so I played healer with her. Then I felt sleepy listening to mommy's heartbeat and fell asleep. And then mommy fell asleep, too."

"What do you say, should we wake mommy up so we can head home?"

The little waterbender nodded again, watching how her daddy gently ran the back of his hand over her mommy's cheek until her eyes began to flutter open.

"Katara?.. Kataraaa..." he whispered her name, after which her lashes began to tremble. She slowly opened her diamond blue eyes and met her husband's loving gaze. She noticed an awake Kya cradled in his arms, too.

"Aang.. you're here. Why does everything sound so loud? And why are my ears aching?"

Aang and Kya looked at each other before snickering quietly. Katara watched how her husband leaned closer to her, reaching for something on her belly. He grabbed the metal end of her stethoscope and pressed it against his chest. Hearing the steady rhythm of his heartbeat, Katara blushed and averted her gaze, realizing what'd happened. She remembered now. She tried to remove the earpieces ever so slowly.

"Ow-ow-ow!.. My poor ears. I don't think I'm gonna be able to listen for a week," she said, rubbing at the inside of her ears.

"This ain't the first time it's happened, you know," Aang said with a smirk while wiggling his brows. Kya started laughing when Katara gently nudged him in the ribs. She took the stethoscope from his hands, coiled it up and put it back on her desk.

"So, did you have a fun day at work with mommy?" the airbender wondered, tickling his daughter's chin while his wife rolled up her waterbending scroll and put it back in the drawer.

"Mhmm, it was really fun!" Kya said excitedly. She began retelling everything fun she'd done with her mother ever since they arrived in the morning. Aang handed the plush Appa over to Katara so she could place it on the hidden shelf underneath her desk. She turned off the table lamp, almost leaving them in complete darkness. Luckily Aang used his firebending to provide them some light. Katara grabbed her shoulder bag from the coat rack, scanned over her office one last time, then stepped outside along with her husband and daughter, locking the room with her key.

"I drew some pretty pictures, daddy. Mommy loved them and she thought that you might love them, too!"

"Really? Well then, remind me to take a look once we're back home. I'd love to see them."

Even though the dim nightlights in the ceiling were turned on, Aang kept firebending to light their way as they walked down the corridor of the western wing and entered the staircase to head to the rooftop of the hospital where Appa was waiting for them.

"Appa!" Kya exclaimed as she rubbed her cheek against the sky bison's furry face and hugged him with her tiny hands. Appa grunted, closing his big brown eyes for a moment to enjoy the display of affection. Aang still held Kya in his arms, he grabbed Katara from her waist and she did the same. He gave all three of them a boost with his airbending and they landed on Appa's head. Kya continued talking about all the shenanigans she and her mommy had been up to throughout the day during their ride home.

By the time she'd finally climbed into her own bed, it was almost eleven o'clock. Aang joined her, letting Katara get ready for bed in the meantime, and to look at those drawings she'd been talking about so much.

"This is really beautiful!" the airbender said, looking at the picture of their entire family.

"Thanks, daddy!" Kya crawled out from under her blanket, closer to him to hug him from his middle. Aang stroked her head in return.

"Sweetie, would you mind if I framed this and put it up somewhere in my office?"

"Really, daddy? You'd do that?" the little waterbender gazed into her father's twinkling grey eyes. He nodded, a proud smile on his face.

"Mhmm."

"No, I wouldn't mind. Can I help you pick a spot?"

"Sure, you can come along to work with me next time I need to visit City Hall. Just like you went to the hospital with mommy today."

"Can we go see uncle Sokka, too?" Kya pleaded with her big glistening cerulean eyes. It'd been a while since the councilman had seen his little waterbending niece. Aang pulled his daughter into his embrace and kissed her temple.

"Of course. Nothing would make me happier."

[kristallioness]

Broken and healed

Summary: Kya takes good care of Aang by healing his broken arm. He returns the favour.

Word count: 2,038

Author's note: Unconditional love is the kind of love that parents feel for their children. Given the meaning of the word, I wanted to write something about Aang and Kya since these two don't get enough of the attention they deserve from the fandom. If no one else does, then I certainly have headcanons for this father-daughter relationship. Kya was once an innocent little girl, too. Their relationship wasn't always strained! Never mind, everything changed when "Turf Wars: Part One" happened. Aang loved Kya - this is (and will always be) canon.

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It was another sunny afternoon in summer when Aang came back home to Air Temple Island and landed Appa in the courtyard. He slid down the side of Appa's head, releasing a short groan once his feet stomped the ground. Appa growled back and licked his right side.

"Don't worry, buddy! Katara will heal this up in a jiffy," Aang reassured him for the nth time that day by patting the sky bison's forehead. The airbender had left early in the morning to head to the border separating the Western Earth Kingdom from the United Republic. There'd been reports of smugglers working near the area and the White Lotus couldn't handle the situation on their own. Calling the Avatar was the closest and fastest solution to solving the problem before it could escalate. During the ambush, one of the thugs had pulled his right arm behind his back to take him out, but they had both tripped during the process - with Aang landing on him and his own arm.

Aang supported his broken arm across his chest and only tried to use his left hand as he stepped to the door, slid it open and walked inside the temple, searching for his wife.

"Katara? I'm home!" he called out. There was a faint clatter, most likely coming from the kitchen. As Aang stepped inside, he stumbled upon a little waterbender crouching over something on the floor.

"Kya?"

"Huh?.. Daddy!" Kya jumped a bit at the sound of her name, but she turned around, stood up and ran straight into her father's feet, actually managing to knock him off balance. Aang squatted down and hugged her back properly, mindful of his painful arm.

"It's good to see you, sweetie.. Is mommy home?" he wondered.

"Mommy had to go to work, she went to the hospital an hour ago. She took Tenzin along in case he becomes hungry," Kya explained, in rather good detail. Obvious enough, Tenzin was barely nine months old, he still liked when his mother would nurse him. Katara didn't wanna leave him alone with the acolytes either in case he started to miss her.

"That sounds like something your mother would do. And Bumi's still at school?"

Kya nodded.

"So, what've you been up to?" Aang asked. That was the last thing the little waterbender wanted to talk about, she dropped her gaze to the floor, dragging one of her blue slippers over the wooden floorboards.

"What's wrong? You can tell me," Aang put a finger under her chin and gently lifted her face back up to meet a pair of misty cerulean eyes.

"I broke mommy's favourite plate," Kya's lower lip quivered and a few tears rolled down her cheeks. Aang had noticed the familiar broken pieces behind her tiny figure earlier. He realized now that it was his fault. If he hadn't called for Katara, Kya wouldn't have startled and dropped the dish.

"Oh.. Shh-shh! Don't cry, my little waterbender!" Aang stroked her cheeks with the back of his left hand, wiping away some of her tears. Kya released a couple of louder sobs.

"I-I was ju-just h-hungry ah-aand I wanted to eat something..."

"Come here!" he pulled her into his embrace and hushed her for a minute or two before she began to calm down.

"Mommy's gonna be angry," Kya sniffed.

"Well, maybe a little.. but she'll understand that it was an accident. You wouldn't have dropped it if I hadn't scared you. I'm sorry," Aang said, rubbing her back and giving her a kiss on the top of her head. She nuzzled her nose into his robes, sniffing a few more times. He had an idea.

"Do you know what? I know how we can make it up to her."

"How?" Kya lifted her head to look into her father's compassionate grey eyes. He wiped away the last of her tears from the corners of her cerulean ones.

"How are your healing lessons going?"

"Good.. I guess," the little waterbender shrugged as she rubbed an eye.

"Mommy told me that you can heal by using your waterbending now. Am I right?" Aang slightly tilted his head, Kya nodded again.

"Well.. See, my right arm is broken," he said, holding it in front of her. She gasped.

"I'm sorry, daddy! What happened?" she gently rubbed her hand above the injured limb.

"Well, a bad guy yanked it behind my back and I sort of fell on top of him.. as well as my arm. I think the bone might be cracked a little because it hasn't stopped aching since. Would you help me and make your mother's life easier by healing the broken bone yourself?"

Kya's face beamed as she nodded enthusiastically.

"And after that, I'll help you clean up this mess and we'll both tell mommy what happened. Okay?"

"Okay!"

"Before we go, what would you like for a snack?" Aang stood up and opened the pantry.

"I wanted a papaya," Kya said and watched how he grabbed her fruit, peeled it quickly by only using his left hand, then handed it to her. She jumped up and down with excitement.

"Thank you, daddy!" she exclaimed and took a big bite out of the papaya.

"Lead the way, my little healer," Aang let Kya grab his left hand to escort him to the healing hut. The little waterbender was always a step in front of him, skipping along the hallway while enjoying her snack. Once they entered the vast room, Aang headed to the back and took a seat on the edge of the bed closest as well as opposite to the cabinets. By then, Kya had also finished eating and she scampered to the sink to wash her hands.

"I'm ready!" she declared and climbed onto her father's lap. Aang winced as he pulled up his sleeve whilst Kya summoned some water around her hands from one of the large pots in the corner of the room. He supported his right arm on his daughter's knees. She gently laid her hands on it and started waterbending in circular motions. The water immediately began to glow and Aang could feel how the pain began to subside slowly. Kya really must've been doing the right thing. He decided to distract her since she still looked rather worried, about him and the incident in the kitchen.

"Tell me, how did you learn to heal a broken bone again?"

Aang knew the story very well since Katara had told him the same evening when they were getting ready to fall asleep, just lying in their bed. She'd broken her ankle that day and instead of healing the fracture herself, she limped to the healing hut with Kya's aid and let the young waterbender practise. It was her first time healing a broken bone successfully.

"Mommy broke her ankle and she asked me to heal it."

"That's right," Aang nodded, pretending like he'd already forgotten. Kya took about three minutes before she finished. He could feel that the pain was practically gone.

"How does that feel, daddy?" the little waterbender asked as she stopped healing and waterbended the remaining water back into the pot. The airbender carefully twisted his arm and moved it around in every direction.

"Pretty good, just a little bit sore now. I think we should put on some of that special salve to quicken the healing process, just in case."

Kya nodded in agreement and jumped off Aang's lap to open the doors of the cupboard opposite to them.

"Where does mommy keep that salve?"

"It should be right in front of you, on the top shelf," Aang pointed a finger to one of the tins, which Kya picked up and read the label on the side of the round container.

"This one?"

"Yeah, that's the one."

Kya stood in front of Aang and opened the tin. She picked up a thick layer of cream with the tips of her fingers and smeared the cool stuff all over his right arm. Having applied enough salve, she put the tin back in the cabinet and washed her hands again before she began searching for a long elastic bandage. Kya wrapped the cloth around the injured arm to protect it from any sprains. Aang tucked the loose ends under the edges, admiring the work she'd done in a few minutes.

"Now I have an armband, just like your mother used to wear around her arms," he smiled, then rolled his sleeve down. Kya dove into the cupboard one last time to fetch some gauze. She climbed up on the bed and began rolling it around Aang's neck, then tucked it under his arm and brought it back up to tie the two ends together. Besides being wrapped in a sarashi, his injured limb was now supported by a sling, in case she hadn't done her job properly and there were still fractures she'd missed. The airbender doubted that though, she might've been a beginner at this, but she would always do her best.

"I'm finished!" she declared proudly.

"Done like a professional healer. Just like your mother. Thank you, sweetie!"

"You're welcome, daddy!" Kya grinned back.

"You've.. earned.. this," Aang said and gave a kiss on either one of her cheeks, making her giggle at the show of affection.

"C'mon, let's go clean up the mess in the kitchen, too," he patted her on the shoulder and they left the healing hut. Passing the closet in the corridor, Aang grabbed a dustpan and Kya found a small broom from the storage. Back in the kitchen, he knelt down and held the dustpan in place with his good arm while his daughter brushed the shards on it. Pretty soon the pair heard footsteps approach the room.

"Aang! You're home!" Katara exclaimed, standing in the doorway. She'd heard the pieces of the broken dish clattering together during the cleaning, so she'd headed straight towards the source. She was cradling Tenzin in her arms when she stepped into the kitchen. Aang simply stood up and hugged his slightly shaken wife, after which he offered her a proper kiss. The baby boy smiled at the sight of his father and held his tiny hands out, wanting to cuddle him, too. Aang noticed it and he kissed Tenzin's forehead instead, grabbing one of his small hands with his left one. The little airbender liked to play with his fingers.

"Sweetie, what happened? Are you hurt?" Katara examined Aang's right arm, gently rubbing the top with the palm of her right hand. She figured he'd visited the hospital as well, the sling and wrappings and everything looked pretty well done.

"Eh, the fight got a little out of hand," he shrugged.

"And I'm not hurt. Not anymore.." Aang added, after which he squatted down next to Kya and wrapped his good arm around her shoulders.

"Kya.. you healed daddy's arm?" Katara's mouth fell a bit open as she sat down on her knees in front of her husband and daughter. The little waterbender nodded.

"And there's something else Kya wants to confess. We both do," Aang patted her shoulder. She gulped before speaking.

"I was hungry, so I wanted to pick some snacks and put them on a plate, but I dropped it."

"It was my fault. I arrived home and began calling for you so you could hear me and come heal my arm, but I gave Kya a scare instead," Aang finished for her. Katara eyed the broken pieces on the dustpan for a mere second before she cupped Kya's cheek.

"Oh, my poor little waterbender.. That's okay, it was just a plate."

"Yeah, but it was your favourite plate, mommy."

"You know, sweetie, sometimes plates might get broken, but you can always try to glue them back together or, if that doesn't work, buy a new one. Things come and go, but family stays the same. You'll always be our little waterbender. That'll never change."

Kya smiled and jumped into her mother's embrace. Katara hugged her as much as she could with her free arm, careful to hold onto Tenzin with the other one.

"I love you," Katara said and kissed the top of Kya's head.

[kristallioness]

Bi the way...

Summary: Kya's parents find out that she's bisexual.

Word count: 1,614

Author's note: Am I really the only person one of the few who's happy that the Avatar fandom is (more) alive again thanks to "Turf Wars"? When I saw a few spoilers from that comic (particularly about how Aang didn't mind that Kya was bisexual, like AT ALL), I knew I had to write a story about it. I was so happy that I cried a little because finally some more proof that Aang and Kya did get along well! The way Kya describes how air nomads are accepting of differences and embraced everyone, just.. *clutches chest, wipes away tears* Aang loved Kya with all his heart and nobody can convince me otherwise now! I shed tears while writing the draft for this fic. This one's for you too, @avatarwindboy, @chel-burr and @jinoras-light! Also, Kya only talks about her first girlfriend, soooo...

----------x----------

It was the third night in a row when a teenage Kya returned home late at night. She waterbended a wave up to the edge of Air Temple Island and, without making too much noise, let the water flow back into Yue Bay. She sneaked behind some familiar bushes and upon reaching the wall of the temple, climbed into her room through the window - the secret escape route she'd already figured out ever since she began meeting with that special girl of hers.

Kya threw her travelling bag on the floor and began changing into her night clothes.

"Kya? Where have you been?"

The younger waterbender nearly tumbled over as she was busy pulling off her boots when her mother's voice startled her. Katara didn't sound mad though, more curious.

"Mom!? What are you doing up so late?"

"I was just getting some tea because I was waiting for your father to come home," Katara stepped inside the room, a cup filled with slightly boiling water and tea leaves in her hands. She took a small sip. She was already dressed in her pyjamas and her hair was a tad messy. She probably fell asleep, but was too worried about her husband and woke up because of that.

"But why are you up so late?"

"Do I really have to answer that?" Kya averted her gaze, slightly hanging her head in shame. Katara walked up to her and placed a supportive hand on her shoulder.

"Kya, sweetie.. If you're in any kind of trouble, you need to tell me so I can help you."

"No! I'm not in trouble. It's something.. different."

Katara beckoned her daughter to take a seat on the bed. They both did. The elder waterbender took another sip of her tea, even offering some of it to the younger one. Kya took it in her slightly shaking hands and drank a little.

"What is it, sweetie? You can tell me," Katara wrapped her arm around Kya's shoulders, nudging closer to her.

"I uhh.. I was out spending time with a friend of mine. Well, not just a friend.. She's a very special kind of friend," Kya began explaining, a blush creeping up on her cheeks. She hoped that her mother wouldn't notice it in the dark. She did.

"Okay, there's nothing wrong about that. So what are you so worried about?"

Kya looked into her mother's compassionate diamond blue eyes before she took a deep breath.

"Mom, I have something to confess.. I, I think I might like both boys and girls."

There was a moment of silence before Katara released a sigh of relief.

"Is that everything? That's what you were worried about?"

"Y-you.. you're not mad?" Kya's cerulean eyes grew wide. Her mother took it so easily like it was nothing new.

"Of course not, sweetie," Katara cupped her daughter's cheek. She looked like she was about to cry. Katara took the tea cup from her hands and placed it on the nightstand so she could wipe her cheeks dry.

"Oh, Kya.. come here! Don't cry!" Katara pulled Kya into her embrace, gently running her hand over her head to comfort her. She hushed her little waterbender until her sobbing quietened down.

"I'm glad you shared this with me. And your father should know, too."

"Mom, no! Maybe dad will freak out," Kya pushed herself away from her mother's arms to look at her, but Katara pulled her in for another hug to calm her down.

"I very much doubt that. But alright, if you don't wanna tell him, I'll keep it a secret. I'm just not sure how long I can keep it. He's also become suspicious of what you've been doing out late so much recently. He'll figure it out sooner or later."

"Maybe you can ask dad how he feels about this thing? You know, before I tell him.. I wanna be sure he won't get upset."

Katara released a soft hum as she looked out of the window in Kya's room. The clear starry sky and the moonlight reflecting from the waves of Yue Bay provided them with all the light they needed. She saw how a familiar sky bison silhouette approached the island.

"Alright, I'll ask him. I'll let you know how he feels."

Kya snuggled her head against her mother's chest.

"Thanks, mom."

Katara kept her promise well. The next morning, she and Aang were washing the dishes after breakfast was finished.

"Sweetie, do you know what's up with Kya? She seemed a bit on edge at the table," Aang wondered out loud, putting a few plates away in their specific cupboard while Katara dried the other ones near the sink. Kya had avoided her father's gaze throughout breakfast, even Tenzin had asked her if something's wrong. She'd blurted out an angry 'NO!' and apologized to him.

"Yes, I do. But you're going to have to ask her yourself. She didn't want me to tell you."

"She's not in trouble, is she? Or is she mad at me?"

"No-no, it's nothing like that. She's fine. I believe that she'll tell you what's up when she's ready."

"Okay, then," Aang chuckled and gave Katara a kiss on the cheek.

"Speaking of which, I wanna ask you something, too."

"Go ahead," the airbender grabbed the final two plates and walked towards the cabinet to put them away.

"I was reading through some new scrolls I got from the hospital. It contained a lot of information about different sexual orientations. And it made me wonder, how do you feel about it?" Katara wiped her hands in the towel and curled a lock of her hair around her finger, trying to hide her nervousness. She hoped she'd lied well enough for Aang to not put the pieces of the puzzle together.

"Wow! That's an interesting topic. I'm surprised they even have scrolls that write about these kinds of things."

"Yeah, me too.. So, what do you think?" Katara asked again, feeling grateful that she'd managed to approach the matter this way. He didn't seem to suspect a thing.

"Well, personally, I have nothing against it. Love comes in many forms and that's what makes it beautiful. I mean, just look at us. An air nomad and a member of the water tribe. People from two different nations who are in love," Aang stepped in front of Katara and gently grabbed her arms. She smiled back at him.

"Why, even in the air temples nobody hid who they loved. The air nomads have always been accepting of differences and we embrace everyone, no matter their orientation."

Katara put the towel on the edge of the sink in the blink of an eye and tugged at Aang's hand, dragging him along with her.

"Come."

"Where are we-"

"Just come with me, sweetie," she said and continued walking, bringing them both to Kya's room. The young waterbender was busy reading a book when they reached the doorway. She looked up at her parents.

"Mom? Dad? What are you doing here?" she sat up on the edge of her bed, watching how her mother pulled her father inside.

"Aang, there's something Kya wants to talk to you about."

"Mom, did you ask him?"

"Ask me what? What's going on?" the poor airbender looked at both his wife and daughter, completely lost. Kya patted the empty side of her bed.

"You might wanna sit down for this, dad. I have something very important to tell you."

Aang took a seat beside her and simply stared at her with his grey eyes full of concern and confusion. Katara sat down on her knees in front of Kya. She grabbed her daughter's hand and gave her a reassuring nod.

"Dad, mom and I talked about this yesterday. She caught me coming home late at night again. Before you ask, I haven't done anything wrong! I was just hanging out with a friend of mine. But the thing is, she's not just any friend. She's more than that. And she's made me realize that maybe.. I kind of might be.. bisexual."

Aang remained silent for a few seconds before it hit him.

"Ooohh, so that's why you were asking me about that," he smirked at Katara, who merely blushed that she'd been caught lying, too.

"Dad, you're not angry either?" Kya tugged at his arm to get his attention. He seemed so cheerful and relaxed around her. The airbender wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

"Why would I be? Who am I to step between the ways of love? Your mother asked me about it and I'll tell you exactly what I told her. I have absolutely nothing against it. Us air nomads have always been accepting of differences. We've never felt any shame to show who we love in the air temples. We embrace everyone, no matter their sexual orientation. It's in our blood. And apparently, it's in your blood, too," Aang pointed a finger to Kya's heart. She started crying and hid her face in the palms of her hands.

"Kya? Did I upset you? Did I say something wrong?" he gently removed one of her hands to hold it in his own as well as to get a better look at her face. She hastily rubbed her cerulean eyes and tried to get her breathing back to normal.

"No, dad.. You just made me very happy!" Kya sobbed and tackled Aang with a fierce hug. He held her close, but waved a hand to invite Katara in for a hug, too. She stood up to hug her husband and daughter. It was one of the happiest moments in Kya's life.

[kristallioness]

After a rough day in Republic City, the Avatar could finally drag himself to bed. When the airbender slid the door leading to his and his wife's bedroom open, he was a bit surprised to see his children sleeping there, too. Aang quietly walked to Katara's side, took a seat on the wooden chair there and just laid his hand on top of hers. He was glad to be back home, safe and sound. Katara's diamond blue eyes slowly blinked open and she smiled back at him, she'd felt the familiar gentle touch. "Dad? You're home. We waited up for you.. Are you okay?" Bumi rubbed an eye and slightly sat up in bed. "Yes, I'm fine, Bumi," Aang answered and noticed how Kya, who'd fallen asleep between her mother and big brother, had woken up from the commotion and was holding out her tiny hands. He scooped the little waterbender up and offered her a comforting hug. "I was scared. I thought you weren't coming back," Kya admitted with a very sad pout, almost on the verge of tears. "I'm sorry you were scared. But everything's going to be fine now. I promise," Aang reassured her, after which she hugged him again and he rubbed his cheek against her temple in return.

----------x----------

Can I call this a screencap redraw? I was going through some screenshots to see what Tenzin and Pema's bedroom looked like (for this drawing), so I kept clicking through the scene where the airbabies waited up for their daddy (and when Pema gave birth to Rohan).

When Tenzin arrives, Ikki wakes up still a bit sleepy at first, but then she notices that her daddy's home and the way she just reaches out her arms to give him a hug. Tenzin just picks her up and embraces her. Ikki says that she was scared of Korra not coming back and now this part I really like - Tenzin apologizes that she had to fear for Korra's well-being and he promises that everything's going to be fine. Ikki snuggles again and she feels reassured.

Such a beautiful dialogue and precious moment provoked a lot of father-daughter feels. And I just kept imagining Aang doing the same to Kya when she, Bumi and (possibly pregnant with Tenzin) Katara would wait up for him. I'm gonna give this as a card to my dad for his birthday and the upcoming Father's Day (which is celebrated on the 2nd Sunday of November in Estonia).

Bonus: here's the card version. That's my own handwriting right there. "Palju õnne sünnipäevaks!" is how you say "Happy birthday!" in Estonian.

[kristallioness]

Finding new friends

Summary: Kya goes missing at the Southern Air Temple.

Word count: 2,428

Author's note: I had this idea awhile back and it started with the dialogue at the very beginning, where Kya wants to play a guessing game with Aang. At first, I wanted to write it so that they spot the new lemurs immediately, but then I came up with this version. I like to think that the idea behind Kya discovering the ring-tailed winged lemurs was inspired by the beginning of TLOK Book 2 chapter 3 "Civil Wars, Part 1", where an elderly Kya was feeding a bunch of them at the Southern Air Temple.

----------x----------

It was a sunny afternoon at the Southern Air Temple. The clouds around the Patola mountain range had slowly drifted away, the only ones remaining surrounded the lower half like a soft cottony heap of fog. The Avatar's family had decided to go on a short vacation for a week, but also to see how the final stages of the renovation were going.

Bumi was most likely running around somewhere inside the temple, teasing the acolytes by playing pranks on them and without a doubt, Katara wasn't far behind trying to stop him. Aang was sitting in the lotus position in the courtyard, not meditating, but working on Kya's hair instead.

"Daddy! Let's play the guessing game!" 3-year-old Kya slightly teetered on his leg, trying to find something entertaining to do while she had to sit still in his lap.

"Alright, sweetie. Why don't you describe something and I guess?" Aang offered, brushing the comb through her curly brown locks. Thick, soft, lush and beautiful, just like her mother's.

"Okay.. umm? It has big ears, it's furry, it's little..."

"Is it an animal?"

"Almost, daddy!" Kya giggled with joy, knowing that he was getting close to actually guessing it.

"Then I guess it's Momo."

"Nuh-uh!" she shook her head proudly and felt so clever because her father hadn't guessed it already. Aang stared at her with a somewhat puzzled look, but continued brushing her hair.

"Kya, it has to be Momo. There aren't any other lemurs around here," the airbender answered, his tone quite serious.

"But what about that one?" she pointed her tiny finger towards the bushes located behind the corner of the temple very nearby. It sounded like she was telling the truth, her voice was sincere and Aang didn't feel any physical reaction that would've indicated that she was lying.

"I don't see anything over there.. Are you sure you saw a lemur?"

"Mhmm," Kya nodded and looked at him with her big pleading cerulean eyes, afraid that he wouldn't believe her. Aang put her on the blanket in front of them before heading over to the bushes to double-check.

"Nope, I don't see any lemurs around here," he confirmed, having gone through most of the plants and checking underneath them as well.

"But I saw one!" the little waterbender ran right next to him and helped him search for awhile. Aang let her run around the bushes for two minutes before she stepped out and admitted her defeat.

"It's not there.." she sighed sadly, her shoulders slumped forward as her father lifted her up in his arms and wrapped her in a comforting hug.

"There-there, my little waterbender.. it's okay. You did your best. And I believe that you saw something out here. Who knows, maybe you'll meet this creature again soon? And when you do, you could show it to me, too? What do you say?" he cupped her chin and lifted her face slightly, gazing into her glistening cerulean eyes. That was just enough to get Kya's hopes up again, she returned his smile.

"Okay, daddy!"

"Now let's put those cute hair clips on, huh?" Aang scratched above Kya's right ear, making her burst out in laughter.

That same evening during supper, Aang had discussed what had happened with Katara. Both agreed that there's always a possibility of discovering some new species, who could've survived the Hundred Year War, considering how Aang had found Momo in the first place. Then again, neither wanted to get their hopes up. Having tucked the kids in for a good night's rest, the married couple headed to their own bedroom to get some well-deserved sleep too. Kya, on the other hand, pretended to fall asleep until her parents left her room and closed the door. A few minutes later, she woke up, crawled out from under the sheets and closer to the edge of the only window in the room.

"Prrrt!" she called out of the window, having memorized what kind of a sound Momo usually made. Pretty soon, two lemurs actually landed on the windowsill, right in front of her.

"I knew you were hiding in the bush.. here you go," Kya opened the palm of her right hand near the animals' wet noses and let them sniff the lychee nuts. A couple of seconds later, the lemurs started crunching on the snack the young waterbender had offered them. During the time they were busy eating, they even let her pet them gently.

"Wooow.. you're so soft and furry! And you're even bigger than Momo!" Kya whispered while stroking the lemur's head. In reality, the two different species were the same size, only the newly discovered one's ears were bigger and tails seemed to be a bit longer as well as fluffier.

"Do you wanna be friends?" she asked again. The lemur on her right seemed to understand what she was talking about as it decided to tickle her with its long striped tail and lick her face clean.

"Ah-ah-ha! Stop that! You're tickling me!" Kya laughed with joy as the left lemur jumped on her shoulders and climbed on her head.

"Do you wanna come to bed with me?" she lifted her head slightly to stare into the lemur's blazing orange eyes. The other one on the windowsill took her advice and leaped onto her bed, curling up like a ball of fluff. The waterbender climbed back under the sheets and turned to her right side. When the girl had found a cosy position for falling back to sleep, the first lemur wrapped its tail around her head and the second one carefully walked on the side of her body, curling up again near her tummy to keep the child warm, too.

"Kya? Are you up, sweetie?" Katara greeted her daughter in the early morning. Her tapping against the wooden door awoke the lemurs, who'd kept close to Kya. The animals stared at each other for a mere moment before deciding to leap out of the window, opening their wings to glide away. Just then, the elder waterbender entered the room.

"Good morning, Kya."

"Mmm.. morning, mommy!" the little waterbender yawned and sat up, rubbing her blurry cerulean eyes to clear her vision. Her smile turned into a frown when she didn't see her friends anymore.

"Where did they go?"

"Where did who go, sweetie?" Katara asked, taking a seat on the edge of the bed. Kya was busy searching for her companions under the blanket, she looked like a huge moving hump when her mother lifted the sheets and smiled back at her.

"The lemurs. They came to bed with me last night," the toddler explained, crawling into her mother's lap.

"Really? The lemurs were here?" Katara wondered, having lifted her daughter into her arms before she stood up and walked nearer to the window to have a look outside in hopes that she might still spot them flying around.

"Mhmm.. do you think they'll come back?" Kya sounded sad as she sucked on her thumb and tugged at the white fur collar of her mother's water tribe coat with her other hand.

"Well, if you saw them prowling in the bushes yesterday, and they spent the entire night with you, then I'm pretty sure they'll come back soon. And when they do, be sure to tell me or daddy, promise?"

"Promise."

"But right now, let's get you dressed and ready for the day. Alright?" Katara bounced Kya a little as they made their way out of the latter's bedroom.

It wasn't until noon that the lemurs dared to show their striking faces again. Kya spotted one of her new playmates staring back at her from under the same bushes. When her parents weren't looking, the little waterbender used the chance to run off with the animal leading the way.

"Hey, where did Kya go?" Katara noticed five minutes later.

"She's right.. here. I swear she was just here a minute ago," Aang looked around the courtyard, becoming a bit nervous when he couldn't catch a glimpse of their daughter.

"Then she can't be too far. Let's split up and look for her."

Katara ran inside the temple, asking some of the acolytes she bumped into along the way whether they'd seen her daughter. Aang started searching outside, hopping on an air scooter to ride a quick circle around the front of the temple. Once he understood that Kya wasn't anywhere near, he finished airbending and grabbed his staff instead. Before he could open it into a glider and take off to get a better look from above, he noticed the familiar bushes in the corner of the courtyard and everything became a lot more obvious.

"Kya! Are you out here?" Aang shouted while going through the thick shrubs. There was a rather narrow gravelled path leading to the back of the temple, which connected the next large mass of bushes.

"Answer me, sweetie! It's daddy! Your mommy and I are worried about you!" the airbender easily skipped across the narrow edge, but its small size gave him butterflies in his stomach. What if their precious baby didn't watch her step and accidentally fell down?

"Kya!" he managed to yell one more time before coming out of the second wave of shrubs. There she was, his little girl, safe and sound, sitting on the ground in a similar open space, just like the courtyard at the front of the temple. But he couldn't believe what he saw.

"Oh.. my.. gosh.." Aang gasped and practically fell down on his knees. He witnessed the little waterbender feeding lychee nuts to five ring-tailed winged lemurs.

"Oh! Hi, daddy! You found me," Kya turned around for a moment and, seeing that her father didn't come any closer, she decided to go to him. One of the lemurs was hiding behind her head, its hind legs supported on her shoulders and ears drooped, it must've been the shy one of the group. Kya was carrying another one in her arms like a wee baby of her own, holding it close to her chest. The other three followed right behind her.

"It's okay. That's just my daddy. I'm sure you'll love him. He's an airbender," she cooed like a young mother to the lemurs, who followed her as she headed towards Aang.

"I'm sorry for hiding, daddy. But I didn't wanna shout because I was afraid of scaring my new friends," she stood right in front of him, an apologetic look on her face as she lowered her head in shame for a moment. The animals surrounding her sat down on the ground and stared at the big stranger, who hadn't spoken a word yet.

"Are you mad?" she patted the lemur's back, who was sitting in her arms.

"Wha-!? No! No-no! Everything's okay, sweetie. I forgive you," Aang stammered a little from the shock. He was having difficulty getting his eyes off the odd-looking creatures.

"Do you wanna meet them?" Kya asked, tenderly running her hand through the grey fur on the lemur's back.

"Sure.. yes, please," Aang gulped, almost begging, unsure about how he could possibly contain his emotions any longer. One of the three lemurs sitting on the ground cautiously moved in front of him and sniffed his scent once he extended his right hand, allowing the Avatar to actually stroke its furry head for the first time as soon as it'd seen the familiar pale blue arrow tattoos on the backs of his hands. The lemur had recognized its own kind.

"Well.. h-hello there!" the airbender's shimmering grey eyes became decorated with small droplets of water, which streamed down his cheeks a moment later.

"Why are you crying, daddy?" Kya wondered, feeling a bit confused, much rather expecting her father to be mad at her for running away like that.

"Kya.. I'm just.. so h-happy right now," Aang sniffed, wiping his tears away with the back of his hand. The lemur, who he'd just befriended, leaped onto his shoulders and licked his cheeks dry.

"I don't think you understand what kind of an amazing thing you just did," he put his hands on his daughter's shoulders.

"What did I do?"

"You saved these animals.. these lemurs. You know how your mother and I have always said that Momo is the last winged lemur?"

"Uh-uh," Kya nodded.

"Well, he isn't anymore. Cause now, there are a lot more lemurs. Momo finally has some friends he can play with, too," Aang stroked the ring-tailed winged lemur Kya was holding close to her chest.

"Oh, come here!" Aang said before pulling Kya and the lemur in her arms into a big hug. The other lemurs were curious and walked around the pair, sniffing to remember how they smelled since they considered the father and daughter to be family.

"I'm so proud of you, sweetie," he let out a shaky breath as a fresh wave of tears fell down his cheeks, still finding it hard to believe that there were other living lemurs at his home.

"Thanks, daddy!"

"Aang! Kya! Are you back here?" Katara yelled nearby, breaking their embrace as Aang turned around to see her approach their hideout.

"What's-" the elder waterbender didn't manage to finish her question once she made it out of the bushes and found her husband and daughter with a bunch of lemurs.

"Katara..." the airbender merely called her name, beckoning her to come closer. Katara slowly walked right next to them before she sat down on her knees. Two of the lemurs began circling her, trying to sniff her and make friends with her, too.

"Look.. just look at them, Katara. Look at what our daughter found."

She was just as speechless as he was in the beginning, pretty soon she felt one of the lemurs pushing its head into the palm of her left hand. She obliged and stroked its soft grey fur, earning a light purr. Katara gazed into Aang's shimmering grey eyes with her own diamond blue eyes, seeing that he hadn't ceased crying. She didn't need to say anything because she knew how much this meant to him, so she simply smiled and wrapped her family in another loving embrace.

"I knew you'd find the lemurs again, Kya. Muah!" the master waterbender kissed the top of her head and hummed in delight.

"She might be a waterbender, but she has the spirit of an airbender," she whispered to her husband before kissing his wet cheek as well. Aang rubbed his nose fondly against Katara's, he couldn't agree more.