Accidental Avatar

At the Abbey...

"When!?" I wake with a start when Sokka shouts that, his voice trembling with excitement.
"Any day now," Bato responds calmly.
"Who's having a baby?" I mumble groggily, rubbing my eyes. Bato chuckles, shaking his head in my direction.
"No one. I was telling Sokka and Katara that I should be receiving a message from their father soon."
"Oh, that's cool," I respond, stretching out my muscles.
"But if you guys wait till the message arrives..." Bato trails off, his suggestion hanging in the air. "You can come with me and see your father again."
"It's been over 2 years since we've seen dad!" Sokka points out, barely sitting still. He was so excited.
"Damn, that is a long time," I say, my eyes growing a little wide.

"It would be so incredible!" Sokka says again, his eyes gleaming as he looks over to me. He turns his attention to his sister. "Katara!"
"I do really miss him." She was much calmer than her brother, but you could tell from her tone of voice, she was just as happy as Sokka was. But, I could hear a 'but' coming on. "It would be great to see dad."
"It's been far too long, hasn't it?" Bato says kindly, putting a hand on each of their shoulders. He explains how he wasn't sure when word would arrive but promised to tell them as soon as it did. I heard a door slide closed and turned to see Aang had left. I felt like I was intruding. It was my people, who their father was fighting, and yet, they treated me like family anyway.
"It would be great," Sokka says, his voice heavy with sadness. "We have to take Aang to the North Pole first."

"Even if we had time to wait for the message, who knows how far we'd have to travel. We don't have time for a long detour." Katara said softly.

♍

"I'm sure that your father would understand, and he'd be proud to know that his children are helping the Avatar," Bato said, smiling warmly at them. After that, everyone goes back to reminiscing, and I eventually dose off again. This time, I sleep until morning.