Work Text:
Aang alternated most of his time between the Southern Water Tribe and Air Temple Island - though he made it a point to keep an eye on his eldest son, when he could find him. Bumi, it seemed, had truly gotten the wanderlust spirit of the Air Nomads, even if he wasn't a bender.
The Southern Water Tribe had Katara, and Kya - and Korra. Aang liked his successor. The White Lotus elders sometimes grumbled that she was too rambunctious, too flighty, too aggressive, and Aang wished he could tell them that he hadn't always been the calm and collected adult they had known him as. Katara, at least, seemed to understand that not only are all children at least a little rambunctious, but the Avatar was especially energetic - Aang had told her once that it was the Avatar spirit, sized for an adult but squished into the body of a child, that had made him constantly be on the move when they were younger. Roku, Kyoshi, and other past Avatars had all confirmed that they had been similar little whirlwinds as kids. All that extra energy had to go somewhere.
But, more and more these days, Aang found himself on Air Temple Island, because that's where his brand new granddaughter was.
Well, Jinora wasn't exactly brand new anymore, at just over a year old, but she was still the most wonderful thing Aang had seen since his own children were born.
She hadn't shown any proclivity for bending yet, and he knew Tenzin was stressed about it - Pema's father had been an earthbender, and while Tenzin was an airbender, he was still half Water Tribe. Katara had confirmed during the pregnancy that she was likely to be a bender, but it was impossible to tell what kind. The whole world was now waiting with bated breath to see if the child would be an airbender, specifically.
Aang wasn't, but then, he was part of the Spirit World now, not the material world. He didn't care one way or the other. His firstborn had been a nonbender, but he hadn't cared about that, either. Bumi was his son, and that's what was important.
But he knew Tenzin wasn't thinking about that. He had shouldered the weight of an entire nation - and Aang knew he was at least partially guilty of putting that weight on his son. It had been hard not to. They were the only two airbenders in the entire world by the time Aang had passed away, and his dream of rebuilding the Air Nomads had fallen onto Tenzin.
So, moments like this, Aang thought with a smile as he appeared in Jinora's nursery, were precious indeed.
Tenzin had fallen asleep in the rocking chair next to the small mat Jinora was sitting on, cooing and waving around the worn-out, soft toy sky bison that Aang recognized as being Kya's when she was small. In sleep, Tenzin looked more at peace than Aang could remember seeing his son in a long time.
Jinora suddenly looked directly at Aang, and he felt a jolt of surprise before realizing that she was probably only looking at the shelf on the wall behind him. He was a spirit, after all. No one could see him.
But then Jinora grinned, waved the bison toy at him, and said "Daa!"
Aang blinked. He was standing on the opposite side of the mat from Tenzin's rocking chair. "Can you see me?" he asked curiously.
Jinora giggled and thumped the bison against the floor a couple of times. "Daa! Daa!"
Tenzin stirred slightly, but Aang had no wish to wake his son - he remembered the sleepless nights of having a baby all too well, on top of the sleepless nights from being one of the most important people in Republic City.
He knelt down next to the mat and Jinora babbled in delight, holding up her bison for him to see.
"Very nice," he told her with a smile. "I bought that for your Auntie Kya when she was six months old. She loved it as much as you do."
She giggled again. "Daa!"
Aang laughed softly. "We do look pretty similar, huh? Especially with the beards. But I'm not your dad, I'm your granddad. Can you say granddad?"
Jinora waved her free hand in the air and cooed happily at him.
He grinned. "We'll work on it."
She squeaked and tried to pat at his knee, gasping when her hand went straight through to the floor. She repeated the action several times, eyes wide in amazement.
Aang sighed. "I wish I could pick you up. It's been a long time since I held a child, especially one I'm related to."
Apparently bored of slapping her hand through his spirit-knee, Jinora returned to waving her bison around again. Tenzin, still napping in the rocking chair, mumbled something in his sleep that sounded suspiciously like "no more sea prunes."
Aang chuckled. "I can agree with that." Despite Katara's reassurances, he had never acquired that particular taste. Tenzin and Kya had both agreed with him, so on the rare occasions when Katara had made stewed sea prunes, it was only ever enjoyed by herself, Sokka, and Bumi (which had only cemented Kya and Tenzin's opinion that their older brother was very weird).
"Daa!" Jinora insisted, hugging her bison close and staring up at Aang expectantly.
He sighed again and smiled. "I wish I had my airbending. Your dad and his siblings all loved watching me make their toys fly around the room when they were little. And," he said with a grin, "then I could show you my favorite move. I used to entertain them for hours when they were your age by spinning marbles." He held up his hands to demonstrate the position, and Jinora giggled, trying to clap her hands without letting go of her toy.
"Tick! Tick!"
"Oh, so you do know that trick!" Aang's grin widened. "Glad to know Tenzin is keeping up the tradition."
He sighed and looked over at his son again. "He looks so relaxed like this. It's not easy having the weight of the world on your shoulders. I should know." A thought suddenly occurred to Aang and he looked back at Jinora with a sly smile. "I think I know how to lift a little bit of that weight, though. I know you're an airbender - only an airbender would be naturally able to see spirits like you - but your dad doesn't know that yet."
Jinora cooed, watching him with wide eyes.
"Granddaughter, I would be honored to give you your first airbending lesson."
Something lightly pushed Tenzin, making the chair rock, and he opened his eyes, frowning up at the ceiling as his brain got working again.
He yawned and stretched, looking down to find Jinora still on her play mat, one hand in her mouth and the other outstretched towards him. There was a bright sparkle in her eyes.
"I fell asleep," he told her, leaning forward to stop the chair from rocking. "The Council is keeping me up even more than you are, and getting out of bed for them is infinitely worse."
Jinora chewed on her fingers a little, withdrew her arm slightly, and pushed it towards him again.
A gust of wind hit Tenzin square in the face, and his jaw dropped. "Jinora…" he whispered. "You can airbend."
He laughed, loud and happy, and scooped her up into his arms. "You're an airbender!"
Jinora squealed happily as he raised her above his head, waving both hands in her excitement.
"I need to tell your mother - I need to tell everyone!" Tenzin brought her in for a hug and turned towards the door, so caught up in his excitement that he didn't even notice the babbling from his daughter wasn't the usual nonsense words.
"Buh-buh, G'an'da!" she said, waving at the apparently empty room over her father's shoulder as he whisked her away, calling for Pema.
Unseen by everyone except for his tiny granddaughter, Aang waved back from where he was still knelt on the floor. "Bye-bye, Jinora," he said quietly, smiling as he heard distant, joyous shouting as the news spread.