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Azula’s phone buzzed and she picked it up. “Aang? I thought you were at the gym with Sokka.”
“Yes, about that-“ Aang hissed in pain and swore. Sokka’s voice could be heard faintly apologizing in the background.
Azula gripped her desk, “How badly are you hurt?”
“Azula, I’m fine, just re- Monkeyfeathers! That hurt.”
“Aang.”
“Ok, it’s probably a broken ankle. Katara said she’d patch it up and I’d only have to be off of it for a few days.”
“That’s good.”
“Yes…”
“There’s a but coming, isn’t there?”
“Yes, you see, I kinda… it’s really important… and they don’t have anybody else so it had to be me and I’m hurt…”
“Focus and essential facts only.”
“Can you watch Fei for me, you know, Jet and Ty Lee’s kid?”
Azula pinched the bridge of her nose and exhaled.
Aang continued, “I’m sorry, but like I said, it’s important and Gyatso is at the Pai Sho convention and Smellerbee is out of town which means Longshot is working all week long…”
“I can do it. It’s one little girl, how hard can it be?”
Azula bit her tongue at her flippant remark as she looked at the bisonware that was scattered across the floor. She walked up to the counter and opened the cabinet to find Feiren curled into a ball. The little girl shrieked with laughter as Azula shook her head. “How did you get up there, cyar’ika?”
The little girl beamed, “I climb.”
“Of course.” Azula shook her head at Ty Lee’s understated warning that Feiren wasn’t scared of heights and could climb. “Your mom wasn’t kidding when she said you could climb was she?”
Feiren laughed, “I climb. Good climb. Like leemer.”
Azula eased her out of the cabinet. “So I see. I’ve already caught you on a chair, on the table, and in the sink. Now you’re in the kitchen cabinet.”
Fei nodded. “Higher.”
Azula shook her head. “Ground.”
Fei shook her head back. “Boo-ring. High safe.”
“Height is not safety, you could get seriously hurt.”
“No hurt. Me lee-mur.”
“You are not a lemur, you are a little girl, daughter of Ty Lee and Jet.”
Fei stuck her tongue out. “Lee-mur.”
Azula sighed and put Fei on the ground. “Go play and stay low.” She gingerly walked to the next room where Aang sat on the couch. “I’m don’t know if I’m cut out for this.”
Aang put his Hawk-y down, “Cut out for…?”
“Parenting. Fei has climbed into everything and I’m worried she’s going to get hurt. If I can’t even keep her safe for a night, how am I going to keep our little air bison safe?”
“One, children don’t spring into life as active as little miss Fei and two, comparing Fei to our child isn’t necessarily fair. She’s Jet and Ty Lee’s kid. Is it really a surprise that she appears to be allergic to the ground and always climbing?”
Azula chuckled at the thought of the two circus performers and their little daredevil child. She sighed contentedly, “Well, Fei seems to have quieted down. She must be…playing nicely?” She looked at Aang’s face, “Silence is bad?”
“Yeah, usually.”
Azula rolled her eyes and walked back into the room. The empty room. She sighed in exasperation and looked around. Fei wasn’t anywhere to be found and the front door was securely locked. “Where are you, my little fey child?” Azula walked around, glancing at the various closed cabinets, but they all were undisturbed. “Aang?”
“Yes?”
“Fei appears to have…vanished.”
“Have you tried looking up?”
“Yes, the cabinets are fine.”
“What about higher?”
“What do you think she is, a spider-monkey? It’s a 25 foot ceiling…” She trailed off when something wet splattered on the back of her neck.
Azula looked up to see Fei draped over the chandelier, softly snoring with tiny spit bubbles forming. She blinked in disbelief. “Aang?”
“You find her?”
“She fell asleep…”
“That’s good!”
“On the chandelier.”
“On the chand-WHAT?” Aang hobbled over and looked up, “Oh, monkey-feathers.”
“It’s a 25 ft ceiling and 10 feet from the walls. How did she get up there?”
Aang shrugged and they both looked up at the sleeping toddler helplessly.
Ty Lee rounded the corner to Aang and Azula’s house to see the fire department there. She pulled in and hurried to the front door where the fire fighters were leaving. They were laughing and joking and Ty Lee breathed a sigh of relief. She knocked on the open door and Azula looked up with Fei in her arms. “Mama!” Fei squealed and Azula set her down; the toddler sprinted across the floor and leapt to her mom. Ty Lee caught her and hugged her before glancing at Azula. “Everything ok with Fei? I saw the fire department.”
“Yes. Fei, why did they come out?”
“I sleep.”
“And where were you sleeping?”
“Up.”
Ty Lee looked at where Fei was pointing and Azula nodded. “Yep, she somehow made it on to the chandelier and fell asleep on it. She’s definitely your child.”
Ty Lee looked at her child who smiled back at her. “I guess she is. Thanks for watching her.”
Azula rolled her eyes, “Of course. Keep in mind you owe me.”
Ty Lee nodded just as Fei laughed and said, “Owe me. Owe La.”
“We do owe Azula, you’re right! So smart.” Ty Lee bounced her daughter on her hip before casually tossing Fei high in the air. Fei tucked and flipped before landing back in Ty Lee’s arms.
Azula sighed, “You know, just get me a bottle of wine after I pop, I don’t think my heart could take watching my little air bison flipping like that.”
Ty Lee grinned and after their good-byes were said; Fei darted up to Azula and hugged her, “Bye! You be great mama.” She patted Azula’s baby bump, “Your mama love you.” Fei skipped out the door, forcing Ty Lee to quickly follow.
Aang hobbled over and wrapped one arm around his wife. “She’s right, you know.”
Azula wiped her tears away and nodded slowly, “I think I’m finally starting to believe it.” The two watched the toddler and the trapeze artist tumble and cartwheel across the yard to their car before Azula slowly closed the door, leaving her alone with her husband, her unborn child, and her growing hope that everything was going to be alright.