Avatar The Last Airbender Fan Fiction ❯ Duty Versus Love ❯ Fatherhood Redux ( Chapter 23 )

LES: This story picks up again three months later. You know what this means?

Muse: Aang's illegitimate children are going to be born?

LES: Oh, hello, Muse. Nice to see you again.

Muse: The feeling is not mutual, believe me! (Flips the birdie at LES)

LES: I love you too. And, yes, for lack of a better way of putting it, Aang's first illegitimate child will be born in this chapter. Aang is in the Fire Nation and only one woman has been given a name so far. So I'll bet you can guess who it is. I still can't believe that I've cheated this bad on my OTP. I guess I love Murphy's Law more than I love Kataang. Oh, and by the way, I'm sure you've noticed that this hasn't been updated in a while. I've been really stressed the last few weeks. (And I mean REALLY stressed! Read my story “I Hate You, Dad”, and maybe you can figure out why.) My life has been turned upside down and inside out, so don't expect regular updates. No, I'm not stopping; I'm just not going to be updating a chapter a week anymore. Thanks in advance for your patience.

 

Chapter XXIII: Fatherhood Redux

 

Aang could never say with words how much he loved his family. Perhaps it was because he grew up in a very non-traditional family, but he strived to be the sort of father to his son that his own unknown father could not be to him.

Fatherhood was a constant challenge to the young Avatar. His duties as the Avatar often interfered with his duties as a family man. It seemed that every moment not spent with his son was spent working desperately to catch up on his work.

And that was what he was trying to do now. He was in the Fire Nation, having just finished the Summer Solstice meeting, studying the topics that had been brought up.

The biggest issue was, by far, the Fire Nation colonies in the Earth Kingdom. Since the War ended, the Earth Kingdom had been fairly tolerant of the colonies. But, both the Earth Kingdom and the colonists themselves wanted things to change.

The Earth Kingdom found it impossible to keep order within their own borders because of Fire Nation involvement, and the colonists were looked down upon by their Earth Kingdom neighbors because of the war. No one was very happy, and violence had begun to break out.

Aang wanted the colonies disbanded, but he also didn't want to uproot people from their homes, jobs, and lives without helping them resettle.

But, at the same time, he found it nearly impossible to concentrate on the problem at hand because he found himself watching as his wife and son played on the floor nearby.

Before he knew it, he had spent more time watching them than reading his notes. Finally, he gave up the parchment as a bad job and got up to join his wife on the floor with their son.

He leaned into her and pressed a tender kiss to her throat, and Katara giggled. “Aang, I thought you were working?”

“Something distracted me.” Aang replied. “I couldn't concentrate.”

Katara laughed. “You are so bad.”

“Guilty as charged.” Aang responded, kissing her soundly.

The melded together perfectly, drinking deeply of each other and their shared passion. However, she pulled away from him abruptly. “Okay, so what's the problem?”

Aang grinned at her, and then scooped up Anil into his arms. “It's the colonies.” Aang said. “They need to be disbanded and the Earth Kingdom needs to regain control of its territory, but I don't know how we can do that. It's not like we can tell these people to pack up and move. Some of these colonies have been established since before I was born. Some of them have never known the Fire Nation, and would be looked down upon if they went back.” Aang had first-hand experience with how Fire Nation natives treated `colonials'. “Besides, the Fire Nation cannot afford to build homes for all of them. We are talking about hundreds of people that need to be relocated. I don't know if it's possible.”

Katara thought about the problem for a moment. “So, the problem is that they have nowhere to go?”

“Yes.” Aang said.

“Aang, would you be willing to give up the Western Air Temple?” Katara asked. Aang didn't respond, so Katara continued. “The Temple is geographically located in the Fire Nation, so Zuko could rule them without intruding upon another government. The Temple has more than enough room for everyone. Either you or some Earthbenders could make it livable again.”

Aang thought about Katara's suggestion. It certainly was a good idea, but he was still reluctant to allow another group to move into one of the Air Temples. The Earth Kingdom refugees who lived in the Northern Air Temple had nearly destroyed it. But they had learned their lesson, and were now working to restore the Temple to its former glory.

“Katara, it's a good idea, but I don't want another Northern Air Temple.” Aang said.

“It won't be another Northern Air Temple.” Katara said. “They will know to respect the Temple, and Zuko will make sure they don't change it too much.”

Aang sighed. “I'm sorry; I know I'm just being stupid. But change is hard.”

“It is hard.” Katara agreed. “But that doesn't always mean that it's a bad thing.”

“You're right, Katara, as usual.” Aang said. “The Temples need to be lived in again, or they will crumble to dust.” He smiled at his wife. “When did you become so much wiser than me?”

“I've always been wiser than you. You just didn't know it.” Katara said playfully, kissing him.

“I'll bet.” Aang responded with equal playfulness, returning her kiss thoroughly.

Katara scooted closer to him, and gazed down at the child in his arms. She gently smoothed down Anil's hair and the boy responded to the attention with a little squeal of happiness. “He's gotten so big.” She said.

“Yeah.” Aang agreed. “I can't believe he'll be a year old this autumn. Time has flown by so quickly.”

“It has flown by quickly. And it will continue to fly by quickly.” Katara said. “Before we know it, Anil will grow up and begin his own life… leave us and fall in love and have children of his own.” Aang leaned into his wife with a depressed sigh. “But we have him now, and we can have more.”

Aang glanced at Katara, able to hear the longing in her voice. “More? Now? Are you sure?”

Katara smiled at Aang. “I've told you before, I want children. I love children. Besides…” She smiled at Anil, who returned her smile widely. “Don't you think we made a beautiful child together?”

Aang smiled. “Of course.”

“Maybe we can have a girl this time.” Katara mused.

“You're serious…” Aang realized with a laugh. “I thought you'd want to wait a little longer before we have more children. I thought that was the point of the Earth King's plan, so that you didn't have to spend all your childbearing years pregnant.” He kissed her. “If you want to have another baby now, then I'm all for that. But I don't want you to feel pressured to have as many children as possible.”

Katara sighed. “You're right. Besides, if we wait until winter, the child will be born in autumn and be another Airbender. But, you know what, that doesn't have to stop us from having `fun'.” She whispered in his ear seductively.

Aang smiled. “You know me, Katara. I'm always up for a little `fun'.”

“Here.” Katara said, holding out her arms for Anil. Aang carefully passed the infant over with the thought that Katara was going to put him down for a nap so that they could have their `fun'. But, to Aang's surprise, Katara held Anil so that they were face-to-face, and slowly said: “Can you say `Mama'? Mama?” Anil defied her attempts to get him to say `Mama' by releasing a loud giggle and waving his small arms in Katara's face.

Aang laughed and shook his head. He just had to marry a tease! But it didn't matter. He loved her. He moved closer to her. “You're doing that wrong.” He said. “It's like this: Anil, can you say `Dada'?”

Katara elbowed him slightly. She gave him a smoldering glance that said, `Later, our fun will be later.'

Glad that he was going to eventually have private time with his wife, he gladly joined in the game of trying to get Anil to talk rather than make the usual baby-babble.

~~~~~~~~~~

They weren't able to make Anil say anything recognizable before it was time for his nap. Katara quickly put him to sleep and gave her husband a sly grin. `Now.' Her eyes said.

Aang bowed to her wishes without complaint. However, he took a quick moment to check that the front door was firmly locked. Having Sokka walk in on him having sex with his wife once was more than enough for this lifetime; and Aang had no wish to repeat the experience. So he had made a habit, as more sexual active couples eventually do, of making sure that their `alone time' was not interrupted.

As far as Aang knew, Sokka, Suki, and their daughter were at their villa, and his own villa was locked up. No one would be getting in unless Aang wanted them to, and no one would be getting that privilege tonight.

After locking the door, Aang scooped up his wife into his arms and carried her to the Master Bedroom in their Fire Nation villa. He kicked the door shut and deposited her on the large bed.

Katara quickly removed her robe, exposing her chest bindings. Those were quickly unraveled until her chest was exposed for her husband's eyes only.

Aang grinned at her and crawled onto the bed, paying homage to her body with hot kisses as he made his way up.

Katara moaned loudly as he pressed his lips to her breasts. “Ohhh… Aang, more!” She gasped, and the young Avatar quickly complied and pulled her nipple into his mouth and began to suck lightly, drawing more sexy sounds from her throat.

After a few moments, Aang sat up and quickly pulled off his tunic. Katara gladly molded her fingers to his chest. In response, Aang pressed his body against hers, their forms molding together perfectly, as he meshed his lips with hers.

Katara groaned into his mouth when she felt his erection against her core, and her body automatically began to grind against his groin.

“Ah!” Aang gasped as she began to move against him. His body automatically answered hers with return thrusts, a mimicry of lovemaking.

Though it was simple mimicry, it was still quick pleasurable for both of them.

Soon they were both sweating and panting harshly as they rocked against each other. After several minutes, Aang pinned her down to the bed with his hips, stopping her movements against him. “Stop.” He said, panting. “I want you now, Katara.”

She smiled at him in response and pulled off his belt, tossing the silken fabric aside carelessly. His pants fell loosely around his hips, and she pushed them down his legs.

Aang sat up and kicked them off the rest of the way and helped Katara pull her leggings down. The last of their undergarments came off just as quickly and, within minutes, they were nude.

Aang settled himself down between her thighs, and pressed a passionate kiss to her waiting lips. Katara quickly responded by wrapping her arms around his back to keep him as close to her as possible. Not that he was going anywhere.

“Katara…” Aang whispered against her lips, kissing her.

“I love you.” Katara replied, brushing her nose briefly against his in a sweet Eskimo kiss before giving him a more traditional kiss.

Aang buried his face into her hair as they came together, and they both groaned loudly.

As he became fully seated inside her, he pulled back slightly to gaze into her eyes. Love and passion and lust were in her blue orbs, and she could see the same things in his eyes.

Katara brushed her fingers against his cheek, and pulled him into a kiss as he thrust into her. “Ah! Aang…” Katara gasped and moaned as he moved inside her, causing sparks of pleasure to shoot through her body.

Aang groaned as he rocked into her willing body. “Kat… love you.” He whispered harshly.

“I love you too, Aang… Aang!” Katara cried out passionately, but Aang quickly quieted her with a kiss. After all, Anil was still asleep in the next room. And if Anil woke up, that would be the end of their time as husband and wife, and they were revert back to being parents.

Katara suspected the ulterior motive behind Aang's kiss, but she didn't complain. She loved to kiss him, whatever the reason. She locked him in a tight embrace so that she could continue to kiss him.

With the loss of responding to him verbally, Katara began to move more frantically against him, urging him without words to make love to her harder and faster. Aang gave into her demands in equal silence.

Katara broke the kiss so that she could gaze at him. Aang met her eyes, and the sheer depth of his vast love for her left her breathless. And even greater than that was the realization that she had the most powerful person in the world, the embodiment of the Spirit of the Planet, working for her and her pleasure alone.

She had heard couples say that their partner was their whole world. But Aang was literally her whole world. Aang was literally and metaphorically everything to her. And it was awe-inspiring that the Avatar himself was so devoted to her, and her alone, if only for a few hours.

Such devotion was rare in the world, and Katara was humbled that she received it from her husband.

She pulled him into a passionate embrace and a kiss, and she moaned loudly as he moved more passionately against her.

They climaxed together, holding tightly onto one another as they moaned passionately when fireworks of pleasure shot through their bodies uncontrollably.

They came down from their passionate high together, gasping for breath, their bodies slick with sweat.

Aang rolled over off her and lay next to her, exhausted but thoroughly satisfied. He pulled her against his chest and kissed her.

“I love you, Aang.” Katara whispered against his lips breathlessly.

Aang smiled at her and brushed her sweat-dampened hair out of her face. “I love you too.”

“Tired?” Katara asked with a smile. It was rather unnecessary question. Sex was exhausting, and being a parent was more exhausting. A combination of the two was overwhelming.

Aang nodded. “Yeah.”

“Then sleep.” Katara said, kissing his forehead.

The words were barely out of her mouth before Aang had drifted off to sleep. She chuckled and pressed herself into his warm body and soon joined him in sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~

Aang and Katara were rather rudely awakened the next morning by someone pounding on their front door. The noise woke Anile and he began to shriek his displeasure at being woken up.

Both Aang and Katara groaned, equally upset at the early wake-up call. Aang rolled onto his back, a frown on his face. “What now?” He moaned to no one in particular.

“Get the door. I'll get Anil.” Katara said, getting up and pulling on some clothes.

Aang reluctantly rolled out of bed and pulled on one of his simpler outfits, a replacement of his wrap tunic that only went around one shoulder and a simple pair of pants. He finished with the belt, tying the entire outfit in place.

Once he looked half-way decent, he unlocked the door and made his way to answer the front door. Whoever it was, he was still knocking. Katara left the room after him, heading straight to their screaming son to calm him down.

“I'm coming!” Aang called as soon as he was within earshot of the door. Thankfully, the knocking stopped.

The world had better be ending. Aang thought venomously as he opened the door. As he expected, it was one of Zuko's messengers. “You're awfully early.” Aang commented. “I thought I told Zuko I'd talk to him this afternoon.”

“Lord Avatar, I did come from Firelord Zuko, but my message is not a political one.” The messenger said.

“Then can't it wait? You woke up my son.” Aang said.

“My apologies, Lord Avatar.” The messenger said. “But it's urgent.”

“Fine.” Aang sighed. “What's the message?”

“Firelord Zuko has urged you to come to the Palace as soon as possible. Lady Nera has given birth.”

That managed to wake the young Avatar up, and he finally gave the messenger the proper attention. He couldn't put a word to how he felt about this news. On the one hand, he felt nothing more for the Lady Nera than platonic respect. On the other hand, the child was his. He couldn't know how he was supposed to feel about that, but above all, he felt the need to go to the Palace at that moment.

“Thank you for the message.” Aang said. “I can find my way to the Palace myself.”

The messenger bowed and left. Aang shut the door and walked quickly into Anil's room.

Katara glanced at him as he entered, still rocking Anil to calm him down. “What is it?”

“Zuko's cousin has given birth.” Aang said. “I… I have to go there.”

Katara nodded. “I understand. I'll come with you.”

“You don't have to.” Aang said.

“Aang, this is your child, my husband's child.” Katara said. “Just because this child wasn't born of me doesn't mean that I don't care about that part of you. Besides, in three years, the child will be ours to raise and I'll have to become like a mother to all your children. I'm coming with you.” She finished firmly.

Aang sighed. “Okay.”

~~~~~~~~~~

The trip to the Firelord's Palace was a confusing one. Aang really had no idea how to feel about this child's birth. With Anil, he had been overwhelmingly happy, but now…

Aang owed Katara a lot, because her happiness let him know that it was okay to feel happy too. And he was happy. This child was as much his as Anil was. The only difference was that this child had not been born of his wife. That did not make him love the child any less.

The family arrived outside the Palace, and they were quickly greeted by one of Zuko's staff.

“Lord Avatar and Lady Katara…” The servant bowed deeply. “We've been expecting your arrival. This way, please.” The servant began to lead them through the ornate Palace.

The couple followed quietly with Katara holding Anil, until they saw Mai standing alone in the hallway.

“Hello, Mai.” Aang called, passing the servant and walking up to the Firelady.

Out of their group of friends, Mai's change had probably been the most radical. Back in the old days, Aang never saw her smile or express any emotion besides disinterest. Aang had literally done a double-take the first time he saw her smiling, soon after Zuko's coronation. She hadn't looked like the same woman who had attacked them on multiple occasions. But, now, she seemed like she was back to her reserved self.

“Hello, Aang… Katara. If you're looking for Zuko and Nera, they are inside.” She pointed to the door across from her.

“Thanks, Mai.” Aang placed his hand on the door, but hesitated before opening it. Katara could see his hand shaking.

She shifted Anil to her hip and placed a comforting hand on Aang's shoulder. “I'm right here with you.” She said.

Aang glanced around at her and smiled weakly. With her support, he opened the door and entered the room.

There were all ready a few people in the room. Firelord Zuko was there, probably to provide support for his cousin and to see the child that was at once his newest relative and his friend's child.

There was an older man that Aang didn't know. But, judging by the way he stood at Lady Nera's shoulder, he was her husband.

Aang couldn't stop himself from staring in shock. He had heard that Lady Nera's husband was older than her, but he never imagined such a vast age difference. He looked old enough to be her father! His hair was all ready mostly grey!

Aang realized that he didn't really have it all that bad when people pointed out his and Katara's age difference. There were always people who were disturbed by the fact that he was both two years younger and ninety-eight years older than her at the same time. A biological age difference of two years was probably nothing compared to the age difference between Nera and her husband.

Lady Nera herself was in the center of the room, holding the child in her arms.

Aang stood frozen in the doorway and Zuko walked over to Aang, putting a hand on Aang's shoulder. “Congratulations.” He said.

“There's really nothing to congratulate me for.” Aang said quietly.

As Katara walked into the room, the older man walked over to Aang, bowing in respect. “It's an honor to finally meet you, Avatar Aang. I am Lord Yee, Nera's husband.”

Aang stiffly returned Lord Yee's bow. “It's an honor to meet you.”

“Now, Avatar, you don't have to be like that! We're practically family now… in the loosest sense of the term, of course!”

Not family enough to call me by my name. Aang thought to himself as Yee continued talking.

“Believe me, this is quite an honor. Of course, if you weren't the Avatar, and you did this behind my back, I'd probably have to punch you. But that's water under the bridge, right?”

For Aang, one of the hardest things about growing up a century ago was the changes in slang and expressions. So he gave an uncertain positive reply while trying to figure out what he meant by `water under the bridge'.

Lord Yee quickly bowed to Katara and then returned to his wife. Aang reluctantly took the place that Zuko had vacated on Nera's other side across from Yee, and gazed down at that child.

Unlike Anil, who had strong Air Nomad features aside from his skin tone, this child was very strongly Fire Nation. Aang couldn't see any of himself in the child aside from the fact that the child was a little smaller than the average newborn baby.

“It's a boy.” Nera said. “Are you pleased, Lord Avatar?”

“Of course, I'm pleased.” Aang said, gently taking the boy from Nera. “This is my son. How could I not be pleased?”

Katara walked up next to her husband, gazing at the boy. “Lots of Fire Nation features in him: golden eyes and darker skin tone. Oh! But look, Aang, he has your nose!”

And so he did.

“Have you picked a name?” Aang asked. It was one of the last-minute agreements between Aang and the women. They could pick the names, if they wanted. It seemed only right since the child would be theirs for three years.

“With your permission, Lord Avatar, I would like to name the baby Sho.” Nera said. “It means `to fly' or `to soar'. It seems appropriate for a possible Airbender.”

“Very appropriate.” Aang agreed.

Out of the corner of his eyes, Aang saw Zuko and Lord Yee talking quietly. Zuko passed the older man a chest, probably with the titles and monetary compensation that was promised to the women's families. Lord Yee made a big show of the fact that he was simply doing his duty to restore balance, but he was still quick to accept the chest.

He doesn't seem to care about how this child came to be, only that he is connected to me rather distantly now. Aang thought to himself. I wonder if all the women's husbands will be like this, or if it's just an upper-class thing.

 

LES: Is Yee a jerk? Sorta. He's one of those nobles who are mostly concerned with upping his own status. He married Nera because she was a member of the royal family by marriage and she's the great-granddaughter of Avatar Roku. But, you know what? I don't really care about him. He didn't even have a name until I actually needed it. But, I suck at names anyway.

 

Sho: A Japanese name meaning `to fly, to soar' or `wind instrument'.