Chapter 1: Story Telling

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"My grandmother used to tell me stories about the old days, a time of peace when the Avatar kept balance between the Water Tribes, Earth Kingdom, Fire Nation, and Air Nomads. But that all changed when the Fire Nation attacked. Only the Avatar mastered all four elements. Only he could stop the ruthless firebenders. But when the world needed him most, he vanished. A hundred years have passed and the Fire Nation is nearing victory in the War. Two years ago, my father and the men of my tribe journeyed to the Earth Kingdom to help fight against the Fire Nation, leaving me and my brother to look after our tribe. Some people believe that the Avatar was never reborn into the Air Nomads, and that the cycle is broken. But I haven't lost hope. I still believe that somehow, the Avatar will return to save the world. And you know what? I was right. Your daddy, mastered all four elements and defeated the Fire Lord all in three seasons, but he didn't do it alone, he had his friends to help him. Your uncle Sokka and I found him in an iceberg twenty-nine years ago and the moment I saw your father, I knew that it was love at first sight, that we were destined to be together, that we-"

"No! Mom, please stop! You're giving us the oogies!" A twelve year old Bumi complained, immaturely covering his ears.

"Well I think that it's sort of sweet." Kya protested, smiling and eager to hear more of her parents' love story.

"Sweet? It's disgusting!" Bumi disagreed with his sister, causing her to glare at him.

"Is not!" Kya argued. "Is too!" Bumi barked back.

"Do you want me to continue my story or not?" Katara asked, glaring at her two immature children and successfully putting an end to the senseless argument of theirs.

"Yes, mom. Sorry mom." The two children apologized in unison, hanging their heads in defeat and shame.

"Good. Now where was I?" Katara thought aloud before hearing a familiar voice greet her. "I believe that you were telling these kids about how it was love at first sight when you saw me and how handsome I looked when you broke me out of the iceberg." Aang answered jokingly.

"Daddy!" Aang's seven year old son, Tenzin excitedly squealed. Katara turned to see her husband standing at the doorway of their children's bedroom. She smiled and ran to him to give him a welcoming hug to which Aang replied with open arms. "You're back!" Katara cheerfully stated before gently cupping Aang's face with both her hands and giving him a gentle peck on his lips, eliciting looks and sounds of disgust from Tenzin and Bumi.

Ignoring his sons' reactions, Aang smiled at Katara and asked, "So, what story were you telling them this time, sweetie?"

"I was going to tell them about our trip to Omashu. Kya wanted to me to tell her about the cave of two lovers." Katara answered, still cupping her husband's face.

"Again?" Aang asked with a chuckle. Unlike their two boys, Kya loved love stories especially the ones about her parents. Her favorite story between the two was The Cave of Two Lovers. Though she's heard it dozens of times, she couldn't help but feel giddy and excited to hear more of it.

"Yeah, but she got outvoted by Tenzin and Bumi." Katara added, finally separating from Aang. "Hey, why don't you tell some of your stories too?" Katara asked, suggestively. "I'm pretty sure you had a lot of crazy adventures without me." Katara stated.

"Yeah! I wanna hear some of Daddy's stories!" Tenzin cheerfully shouted.

"Yeah!" Kya and Bumi cheerfully agreed. Aang scratched the back of his head in flattery. "Okay, okay." Aang answered, causing giddy and eager expressions to appear on his children's faces.

Aang took Katara's hand and sat on the side Tenzin's bed with her.

"Have I ever told you kids about the time your mom and uncle Sokka got sick and I needed to get them medicine?" Aang asked, smirking.

The kids looked at their father with dull expressions. They were expecting something of epic proportions and something exciting. Fetching medicine seemed… insignificant and boring. "What's so interesting about medicine?" Bumi asked, keeping his dull expression on.

"So you haven't heard that story yet?" Aang asked, just to clarify. Kya, Bumi, and Tenzin all shook their heads. "Nope, but why would we wanna hear a story about that?" Kya asked, already bored with the topic.

"Oh, you'll see." Aang asked glancing over to his wife, who looked as if she was going to break into laughter. Even the simplest of things they did would always lead to some exciting and dangerous adventure.

"It was a rather dark afternoon and your mother and I decided to start camp and settle down in the ruins of Taku Temple because we recently found out that uncle Sokka was sick." Aang started. "While your mom was tending to Sokka, she started coughing violently and I asked her if she was fine, being the gentleman I was." Aang added, eliciting an eye roll from Katara. "She kept insisting that she was fine but I didn't buy any of her protesting. I knew that before Sokka got sick he was coughing like that, and I couldn't afford to let your mother get sick as well so I told her that I would go get medicine from a nearby herbalist. When I was about to fly away with my glider, I saw strikes of lighting illuminate the dark storm clouds. That was enough to convince me not to fly so, instead, I used my airbending to help me run to the herbalist faster." As Aang continued, he could see his children getting less and less bored.

"When I got there, the herbalist told me that the cure for their sickness were frozen frogs found in the lake in the middle of the swamp." Aang laughed when he saw his children's disgusted faces and laughed even harder when he saw his wife's. "Anyway, as I made my way to the lake, I saw a couple of archers aiming at me. I ran as quickly as I could, trying to get away from them, and I was surprised to find that the archers were actually catching up to me!" Kya, Bumi, and Tenzin decided that they were wrong. This story was really thrilling.

"When I finally made it to the lake I took as many frozen frogs as I could and stuffed it in my tunic. As I was collecting the frogs, another arrow was shot at me! I barely dodged it. To protect myself, I bended a thick wall of ice to shield me but their arrows were to sharp and they hit my wall. Hard. It shattered into small pieces then… they caught me." The kids gasped in shock, now extremely amused with their father's story. "They imprisoned me in a horrible room and chained my arms and legs so I couldn't bend. Or so they thought. When a Fire Nation admiral named Zhao came in my room and told me about his plans for me, I got irritated and used my airbending to let out a blow strong enough to send him crashing on the wall." Aang's kids laughed.

"Yeah dad! You showed him!" Bumi cheered but silenced himself instantly when he saw that Aang was about to continue. "I was locked up and I had no hope of escaping that horrid place until I heard someone open the door. I looked up to see who it was but I wished I didn't when I saw a blue masked man with broadswords coming right for me! I thought he was going to kill me. Instead, he broke the chains that imprisoned my arms and legs and gestured for me to follow him. In my head I was wondering who this mysterious man could be. All I knew was that he was my only hope of getting out of that nasty place."

"When we got out of the metal building-like structure, we found soldiers waiting for us outside, ready to attack. We were outnumbered but they were outmatched. When we were fighting most of them off, we heard Zhao order his soldiers not to kill me. And in a blink of an eye, the masked man had two of his swords put up against my neck, threatening to kill me." The children gasped in shock, wondering what would happen next and who that strange man could be.

"They opened the gates and let us out but the moment we got out of the gate and past the bridge, and arrow was shot at my savior's head causing him to go out cold. I took the opportunity to unmask him and when I did, I found out that it was Zuko who had rescued me! Soldiers were rushing toward us and I was desperate to get away from there but I couldn't just leave Zuko there so I used my airbending to form a giant dust cloud to cover us while we escaped. With Zuko on my shoulder, I retreated to the forest. The end." Aang ended his story, smiling at his amazed children.

"Wow! So Zuko saved you?" Kya asked, nearly mind blown.

"Yup." Aang answered.

"And you guys fought off most of the soldiers in that fire nation base?" Bumi asked, also extremely satisfied with his father's bedtime story. Aang looked over to his eldest son and nodded his head.

"Can you tell us more stories?" Tenzin asked hopefully, eliciting agreeing nods from his siblings.

Before Aang could answer, Katara spoke up. "Whoa, whoa, whoa." She started. "Remember what you all promised?" The middle-aged woman questioned. "Promise? What promise? What did you make them promise?" Aang asked his wife.

"They said that they would go to sleep if I tell them about one of our adventures during the war." Katara answered her confused husband.

"Yeah, we said that 'if YOU tell us.' You didn't, dad did." Bumi protested smartly. "Bumi!" Katara called out sternly. Bumi raised his hands in defeat. "Okay, okay. Geez, I was just messing with you." He stated calmly.

"It's past your bedtime anyway. You three need to sleep." Katara declared, causing moans of irritation to escape from her children's lips. "Ha ha!" Aang jokingly teased. His children scowled at him and he raised his hands in defeat, imitating Bumi, then he said, "Geez, I was just messing with you guys."

"Hey! That's my line!" Bumi huffed. Katara made her way to Bumi and tucked him in, "Bumi, I'm pretty sure you don't own the line." She stated before kissing his forehead. "Eww! Mom!" He squealed and Katara and Aang laughed. "Goodnight Bumi." Katara said before moving on to the next bed. Katara tucked Kya in and said, "Good night, sweetheart. Sweet dreams." Kya yawned. "G'night, mom." She replied before seeing Katara move to the bed beside her. "Good night, my little airbender." Katara tucked Tenzin in and kissed the crook of his nose before blowing out the candle that illuminated the room, closing the door and walking back to the master's bedroom with her husband, Aang.

"Wait. You didn't tell them about us actually sucking the frogs and getting better." Katara stated. "I know but just imagine what would happen if I did! They'd be teasing Sokka for a long, long, long time." Aang replied.

"Would they tease me?" Katara asked, smirking.

"Nah, they'd know better." Aang answered before chuckling with his wife as they walked down the hallway.

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Like it so far? :) If you do, let me know and I'll get right on the next chapters for this story. :D

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