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sapphic-agent · 10 months ago

Note

i love your team avatar rewrite! can you talk more about kids?

You don't know how happy this makes me🥹 I'll break it down like they're OCs (even though the only technical OCs here are Tyro, Suma, and Lian).

(Link to the original Gaang post: https://www.tumblr.com/sapphic-agent/747738712838995968/rewriting-the-gaang-in-lok?source=share)

Kya (major changes to canon):

She/Her

Earthbender (Lavabender)

Firstborn child of Katara and Haru

Green eyes, brown hair; resembles Katara the most

Temper like Katara, but lacks her caring and nurturing nature. Blunt and to the point like Haru. Can come off as rude, but that's not her intention. Her mouth got her in constant trouble as a child. Loved probending as a child and looked up to Toph

Probender (later Manager of the Probending Arena)

Lesbian

*Notes: I like canon Kya just fine. But similarly to Katara, I feel like LOK really just didn't bother to do much with her. She's mainly there to give Tenzin a reality check and reaffirm that Aang was a shitty father. So I really just built her up mainly from scratch. You can resonate her with canon Kya or think of her as a completely different character. Katara was always going to name her first daughter Kya, so to me it makes no difference. Also, I made her a lavabender instead of a metalbender to match her temper*

Tyro:

He/Him

Nonbender (Chi-blocker)

Firstborn and only son of Katara and Haru (middle child)

Blue eyes, brown hair; looks a lot like Sokka

Calm demeanor like Haru, but empathetic and softhearted like Katara. The most sensitive of his siblings, but also the nicest. Learned Chi-blocking from the Kyoshi Warriors after visiting Kyoshi Island for the summer. Very interested in law and politics from watching his mom

Attorney, President of Republic City

Sexuality undetermined, closest guess is pansexual

*Notes: Tyro loves his sapphic aunts (Mai and Ty Lee). I like to think of him as that friend that's always there for you, even when they're going through hell (but not parentified like Katara). Why did I make him president? I don't know*

Suma:

She/They (I know I wrote daughter, but she doesn't mind being referred to as daughter or sister by her family)

Waterbender (Healer)

Youngest child of Katara and Haru

Blue eyes, brown hair; looks like Haru (same complexion as his mother)

Finds it hard to understand emotion, doesn't pay attention (spaces out when people are talking, can't focus on classes that don't interest her in school, etc.). Comes off cold, even to her family. Most assume they don't care about anything. It was a shock when she chose to become a Healer, but her patients usually love her

Healer at the Republic City Hospital, Head Healer at the Republic City Hospital

Aromantic

*Notes: Suma is probably way closer to canon Kya than my Kya is. But they're also a lot less emotionally invested in people than Kya. They're definitely on the spectrum in case you couldn't tell*

Lin Beifong (basically the same as canon):

She/Her

Earthbender (Metalbender)

Firstborn child of Aang and Toph

Green eyes, black hair; resembles Toph

Grouchy, tough, and a hardass like Toph, but has a strong sense of fairness like Aang. Bosses her siblings around. Butts heads constantly with Suyin because of this. Studied under her Aunt Suki to become an officer

Republic City Police Officer , Republic City Chief of Police

Bisexual

*Notes: As you can see, I didn't change much about Lin. The biggest thing is probably that she didn't become a police officer to impress Toph, she did it because of her own sense of justice. I love that for her*

Tenzin Beifong (basically the same as canon):

He/Him

Firstborn son and second born child of Aang and Toph

Airbender

Gray eyes, black hair; resembles Aang

Tries to be calm, but has a short fuse. Feels like he has to live up to being the only Airbending child of the Avatar. Can be distant with his family because of this, especially Aang. Finds it hard to connect with his siblings

United Republic of Nations Councilman

*Notes: Tenzin is way more of a black sheep here than the golden child in canon. Him and Aang having a hard relationship because of the expectations placed on him is one thing I'm very proud of. I think he feels like he has to be this perfect son and feels like he can't approach Aang about it. And Toph is a less than understanding person, so he can't really talk to her either. His biggest regret is never opening up to his father before he died. So he suffers in silence (lmao)*

Suyin Beifong (basically the same as canon):

She/Her

Third child of Aang and Toph

Earthbender (Metalbender)

Brown hair, green eyes; resembles both Toph and Aang (has the complexion of Toph's father)

Free-spirited and fun-loving like Aang, but extremely stubborn and hates rules like Toph. Very clever and innovative, a troublemaker as a kid. Clashes with Lin heavily due to her issues with authority and competes with her. Leaves Republic City (of her own volition) to travel the world and creates Zaofu and the Metal Clan

Leader/Founder of Zaofu, Head of the Metal Clan

Demisexual

*Notes: I'll be honest, I love Su and think she's over hated in canon. Maybe it's because I see a lot of myself in being the youngest child and having a bossy and condescending older sister. But anyway, her backstory is one of my favorites in the show, so that's why I didn't feel the need to change it too much. Also, her choosing to travel the world similar to how the Air Nomads did is a nice touch with Aang being her father. Although, a fight with Toph might have been what made her leave, I'm not sure. Demi because I can't see her loving anyone she doesn't share a deep, personal connection to like Bataar*

Bumi Beifong (slight changes to canon)

He/Him

Youngest child of Aang and Toph

Nonbender

Gray eyes, black hair; resembles both Toph and Aang

Extremely intelligent ("mad genius"), but absolutely can't take anything seriously. Prankster, the bane of Lin and Tenzin's existences. Looks up to Aang and is very close with Su, drives Toph crazy. Very interested in combat, war, and strategy

Soldier in the Second Division of the United Forces, Commander in the Second Division of the United Forces

Gay

*Notes: Nothing you guys say or do will ever convince me that Bumi isn't a man kisser*

Lian:

She/Her

Only child of Sokka and Suki

Waterbender (+Chi-blocker)

Blue eyes, auburn hair; looks like Suki but has Sokka's complexion

Playful personality, loves bad and corny jokes. Easygoing for the most part, but knows when to get serious. Trains with the Kyoshi Warriors like Tyro does

Firefighter, Chief of the Southern Water Tribe

Pansexual

*Notes: I love Lian a lot. It's so weird that Sokka of all characters didn't have kids. Out of everyone, I would think it would be Toph. So I obviously gave him one with Suki. I don't think I said so in the Gaang post, but yes she's a Waterbender. Also, why are both her and Tyro pan? The Kyoshi Island affect, it's something in the water*

Izumi (basically the same as canon):

She/Her

Only child of Zuko and Jin

Suspected Firebender, unconfirmed

Amber eyes, brown hair; mostly resembles Jin

A calm, rational person. Loves history. Painfully non-violent because of that history. Her heart is to the Fire Nation and repairing the damage her country has done. She also has a deep love for Ba Sing Se because that's where her mother is from. Some might call her reserved before they get to know her, to her friends she's one of the nicest people ever

No one knows if she's actually a Firebender or not, she's never confirmed or denied it even to her closest friends. Doesn't feel the need to. Looks at it like a political strategy; no one can say she's favoring benders or nonbenders. She is a master swordswoman, though

Archeologist, Historian, Fire Lord

*Notes: I decided not to choose if Izumi's a bender or nonbender. I like the theory that she keeps is secret in canon as a political move. I don't know if they kept it vague in canon on purpose, but I like it that way. I kind of based her off Nico Robin from One Piece*

That's pretty much it for the Gaang Kids! I'm pretty proud of how everyone came out. Hope this satisfied you!

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the-badger-mole · 1 month ago

Text

Clouds, Fog and Mists

The scholars and archeologists that Aang had been working with had come out of their museum basements and dimly lit studies with a wealth of Air Nomad histories and artifacts that had been lost during the war. Aang now had access to recipes he hadn't tasted in years, scrolls that gave historical context to the things he had just begun learning at age 12, and objects he had never seen, but was excited to learn the use of. At 22, he was just now learning that the Air Nomads had a variety of subcultures and customs he'd never encountered, even though he had visited every Air Temple that existed back then.

"Did you know..." became as common to his vocabulary as "hello" and "custard tart". Every day, he approached his wife with some new bit of lore he'd learned.

"Did you know that the Southern Air Nomads had a Festival of Remembrance?" he'd excitedly asked as Katara was hanging the laundry out to try. She was only half listening while she tried to keep Bumi, their nearly three year old son out of the basket of wet sheets, but she gave a polite hum of encouragement.

"For a whole week," Aang continued needing no further prompting, "no one was allowed to play music or speak. They even wore velvet over their feet so their footsteps wouldn't be too loud. Then, at the end of it, there was a huge party! Loud as anything with music and plays and games. I think I remember going one of those ending parties, but I didn't know about the vow of silence before it."

"That's fascinating, sweetie," Katara said, rubbing her heavy belly with a look of discomfort. She was seven months along with their second child, and this one was very active. "Bumi, last warning. Do not touch the clean clothes!"

"Okay, Mommy!" Bumi said before swatting at one of the sheets Katara had hung on the line. She sighed and turned to her husband.

"Can you take him?" she asked. "I'm tired, and I'd like to take a nap after I finish this."

"Oh," Aang said reluctantly. "I was going to have an afternoon session with the Acolytes. I'm dying to tell them what I've been learning."

"Aang, please?" Katara sagged tiredly, taking Bumi's hand and pulling him away from all her hard work.

"Alright," Aang sighed. "I'll watch him for a bit. Come on, Bumi! Let's go practice some air katas! I want you to be ready when your airbending kicks in!"

-:-:-:-:-:-

All Air Nomads were airbenders. That's what Aang had always been taught. He had to account for late bloomers, of course, but at age four, going on five, if Bumi was going to be an airbender, there would've been signs by now. Kya was a lost cause. She had started waterbending just before her second birthday, and despite the fact that her father was the Avatar, there was no chance that she would inherit the ability to control more than one element.

"Well, maybe it's not true that all Air Nomads were benders," Katara said with a shrug. "After all, not every Water Tribesman is a waterbender, and not everyone in the Earth Kingdom is an earthbender."

"It's different," Aang insisted. "The monks told me that all Air Nomads were benders because we have a unique connection with our spirituality." Katara didn't quite manage to hide her annoyance from him.

"Then explain our kids," she said. "Unless you're the first Air Nomad in history to have children with a non-Air Nomad, someone somewhere got something wrong." Aang went quiet after that. He had no response.

"Just because the Air Nomads may have had children with people from other nations doesn't mean that their children were Air Nomads," an acolyte named Qiao said. She was one of the most apt and studious of Aang's Air Acolytes, and they had spent many hours together pouring over the newly discovered texts. Sometimes, Aang thought that she had a better grasp of Air Nomad culture than even he did.

"I suppose....I suppose that's true," Aang said thoughtfully, taking a sip of his tea.

"The Air Nomads were mostly not monogamous," Qiao pointed out. "I'm sure there were a lot of Nomads who had understandings with their lovers from other nations. Especially among the Air Acolytes of the day."

Aang pondered that for the rest of the day. Then the next. Then the rest of the week before he finally approached Katara. He found her by the fountain with Kya and Bumi. Kya was busy making imperfect little shapes with the water while Katara was teaching Bumi how to put his hair into a warrior's wolf tail.

"You look just like your uncle Sokka," she laughed, pressing a kiss on her son's cheek. "I bet you'll be a great warrior just like him, too." That twisted Aang's gut uncomfortably. He cleared his throat to get Katara's attention.

"Hey, sweetie," he said.

"Hey," Katara smiled at him. "We're just about to have story time. Do you want to stick around for How Umiak Rowed Her Boat to the Stars?"

"Oh, um..."Aang shifted uncomfortably on his feet. "Sure. I was just...thinking of something."

"Yeah?" Katara raised her brow at him. "What?"

"I was just thinking of how all the Air Nomads were benders." Katara didn't bother trying to hide her disgusted snort or the rolling of her eyes.

"Okay, and?" she huffed. "Did you draw any new conclusions?"

"I can't have been the only Air Nomad to have children with someone from a different culture," he said. Katara stared at him blankly for a long moment.

"I told you that," she responded finally. "It's just now sinking in?'

"No, I understood you," Aang told her. He kicked at the ground. There was a loose pebble under his toe and he focused on rolling it back and forth. "It's just...well, the Air Nomads, they weren't strictly monogamous."

"Monogamous," Katara scoffed. "That's a big word for you." Aang bristled a bit at that, but he took a breath and let it go.

"I was just reading," Aang said with a shrug. "It occurred to me that maybe because the Air Nomads weren't monogamous, they just didn't bring their non-bending kids into the Air Nomad society." Katara looked up at Aang with her eyes wide.

"That's awful!" she said. "So because their kids didn't bend the right elements, they had to be cut off from one of their parents?"

"No, I'm sure it wasn't as bad as all that-" Aang started to protest.

"What exactly are you saying, Aang?" There was a dangerous edge to Katara's voice. A warning.

"Nothing, nothing!" he scrambled back, tripping over his tongue, trying to call back his words, and cursing himself for trying to bring up the subject without a plan. Katara eyed him coldly. She was angry and trying not to show it.

"It's time for lunch," she told her children. "Let's go inside and fix something to eat."

"But Mommy," Bumi protested. "I want to hear about Umiak!" Katara turned to him with a tight smile.

"That's okay, sweetie," she said. "I'll tell you while you help me fix lunch." With one last scowl at Aang, she took Bumi's hand and swung Kya up onto her hip and went inside.

-:-:-:-:-:-

Aang felt vindicated when it was discovered that he and Qiao were right. The Air Nomads would often leave non-airbending children with their non-Nomad parents. Sometimes the Air Nomad parent would stay with their non-Nomad partners and build a life with them and their children (something he made a note to tell Katara about). Then it was discovered that they were only partially right.

Some of the Air Nomads stayed and raised mixed heritage families. Some left their non-airbending children behind with their non-Nomad partners. That was expected. Reasonable, even. What Aang was not expecting, however, were the accounts of non-airbending children being given away. Some were adopted, and those adoptions were traceable through documents and letters. Others were sold. Those transactions were traceable, too. By most accounts, those children went into indentured servitude and many of them learned trades and were able to start businesses once their indenture was up. Aang tried to focus on the positives. Katara, however, was horrified.

"What right did they have to sell those children into...into slavery?" she demanded hotly while they were getting ready for bed.

"I'm sure it wasn't that bad," Aang insisted. "After all, the Air Nomads wouldn't have put children into situations where they could've been hurt."

"Yes," Katara sneered. "I'm sure their new owners were very gentle with their exploitation."

"That isn't fair!" Aang protested. "Do you know how difficult it would've been for those kids to live among the Nomads?"

"Probably about as easy as it's been for our kids." Katara glared at Aang meaningly. He felt his cheeks heat as he looked away, pretending not to understand.

Bumi was going on eight now, and Kya was five. They were both old enough to ask questions about why it was so difficult for them to move around their own home. Katara and the Acolytes had an easier time being adults and able to maneuver obstacles that short legs and small hands couldn't without help, but it was still a regular challenge to get around the Air Temple for them. Aang was in the process of building a complex near Republic City where non-airbending Acolytes could live and learn with more ease, but it wouldn't be ready for anyone to move into for another year or so. It would be safer for children with no airbending ability, too. Aang glanced over at Katara from the corner of his eye, at the soft swell of her stomach, already showing signs of pregnancy at her second month.

-:-:-:-:-:-

Tenzin was the last of Aang's children with Katara, and the only airbender. When he was almost one, he airbent for the first time, and Aang couldn't stop celebrating for an entire week. When Tenzin was two, the first of the burial mounds were discovered.

Archaeologists working at the mostly restored Northern Air Temple found it at the base of the mountain. There were several layers to the grave, suggesting generations' worth of use. Most of the bones were small. Infant and toddler sized. The largest bones were about the size of an average eight year old. The bones were all jumbled together, as if they had been tossed in a heap. Some of them wore the clothes they were buried in, but most of the bones were too broken to hang on to any frabric. There were also no signs of any shrouds or anything indicating that they had been given any of the customary funeral rites of the Air Nomads. The fact that they were found at the base of the mountain in itself was unusual. All the different groups of Air Nomads had their own unique funeral customs, but one thing that remained the same was that they were laid to rest as close to the sky as possible.

When the first reports of how the children came to be at the base of the mountain came out, Aang was certain it was the rankest propaganda. None of the Air Nomads, no matter how stringent they were about non-airbenders living among them, would ever harm a child. For a while, he seemed to be right, as all the proof was from secondary and tertiary sources.

"Lies the Fire Nation used to justify genocide," Aang said confidently.

"But how did the children get there?" Katara asked. Aang had no answer for her. Yet. There must have been a good one, though. Maybe a plague had run through the Air Temple, forcing them to bury the bodies at the bottom of the mountain to prevent contamination, or something equally tragic. Aang began talking to the archaeologists about giving the bones a proper burial as soon as they could be sorted. The count at that time was 700 bodies in the pile and there were still so many more to go.

A few months after that, the oldest of the Air Nomad accounts were uncovered. It went back a good 300 years, and it spoke about a surplus of infants born without the gift of airbending. There were too many to be disposed of the normal ways, and many of the non-bending parents were unwilling or unable to raise the children themselves. The anonymous monk wrote of a meeting to discuss the crisis. They wouldn't be able to care for so many that couldn't get around the temple, or travel with the Nomads. There was a food shortage. A water shortage. An everything shortage. So the head monk suggested giving the children to the air. That had been the first time the practice had been recorded, near as anyone could tell. But some of the bones were older than that.

That's what they called it. It sounded lovely. Poetic even. In practice, though, the babies were carried to the edge of the temple grounds and held in the air. A short prayer was said for the souls of the children, and then they just...let go. They were so high up, they probably couldn't hear the children hit the ground.

The public began to call them the Fog Children. They were babies born to Air Nomad parents, but without airbending abilities themselves. People clung to the term and it soon spread all over the world in hushed whispers. Aang hated it. Katara hated it. It was the only thing they could agree on by that time.

"It isn't fair!" Aang bemoaned. "It's like people are using it to justify the Fire Nation killing all the Air Nomads."

"If it bothers you so much," Katara said after she'd put the kids to bed, "then speak up! Condemn what they did."

"I do!" Aang insisted. He had protested, loudly that all of the Air Nomads shouldn't be judged by what one fringe sect did.

"Not just them," Katara said. "All of it. It's just like with the Fire Nation. Remember what Zuko said? You can't expect to move forward without acknowledging the past. All of it was wrong. The Air Nomads treated their non-bending children as if they had no value. Condemn the adoptions and abandonings and the selling of the children!"

"How is it my responsibility to make up for all of that?" Aang demanded.

"You're the only one left," Katara reminded him, trying to be gentle. "I'm not saying you have to call the Air Nomads monsters. They did something wrong. They were human. You can acknowledge that and commit to being better than that."

"How?"

"Start with your children."

It had been a frequent argument between Katara and Aang how Aang treated their children. Bumi was 13 now, well on his way to becoming a man. Kya was 11 and Tenzin was five. Often, Katara would quiz Aang on his children- what Kya's favorite color was, or the name of Bumi's best friend. Aang could admit that he was correct about Tenzin more often than the others, but it was only because Aang had so much he had to teach his youngest. Katara should've understood that. After all, there were things she did with Kya that she couldn't do with Bumi or Tenzin.

"It's not the same," Katara told him. Aang could never remember why, though.

For the next year or so, Aang spent much of his time doing damage control. He did his best to separate the practices at the Northern Air Temple and the particular sect of Air Nomad culture that grew around it from the rest of the Air Nomads. Every criticism of the culture was met sharply by Aang's rebuttals and justifications. Penning article after article espousing the virtues of the Air Nomads at large became his full time job, and obsession. It took him two weeks to notice that Katara had left with all three of his children, and another month for him to find the letter Katara had left in his bedside table telling him she was seeking a divorce.

He got Tenzin three months of the year. It was all he could manage, being completely unused to parenting alone. Aang taught his son what he could of airbending and the Nomad philosophy he could in that time, and did his best to ignore the people whispering fog children in the same breath as his oldest children.

#HAPPY NEW YEAR #atla #anti kataang #anti aang #air nomad critical #air nomad lore #a lil' sprinkle of aang salt to kick 2025 off #poor kya and bumi #although since it's canon that they aren't known to be aang's kids in lok the whispering probably stopped pretty soon #especially after their mother remarried and they became known for their connection with their stepfather #zutara #a lil' sneaky sneak zutara in the tags #fan fic

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