Practice: Tokka

Despite the fact that he had lived his entire life in the South Pole, Sokka's favourite time of year was summer in the Earth Kingdom.  There was something about the air during the summer in the outskirts of Ba Sing Se.  Not too hot, and the breeze was refreshing and cooling without bringing a chill with it.  The war had been over for seven years and peace was the norm.  Sure, there were the occasional rebel uprisings that had to be quelled, but for the most part, his life was good.

On that particular afternoon in late summer, Sokka sat in the grass, leaning back on his elbows, watching the few clouds in the sky.  His wife of less than a year, Toph, lay beside him, staring at nothing, as per usual.  Aang and Katara were nearby, acting like newlyweds, also as usual.  Their two-year-old son ran through the meadow, pretending to fly like his father.

"Unkie Sokkie?"

Sokka sat up straight.  "Yes, Tenzin?"

Tenzin held out Sokka's boomerang.  "Teach."

It wasn't a request – it was a command.  Sokka sighed as he realised that one day, he was going to use his place as son of the Avatar for everything it's worth.  "You want me to teach you to throw a boomerang?"

Tenzin dropped the weapon and jumped up and down, a smile threatening to overtake his whole face.  "Yay!  Teach!"

Sokka shook his head.  "Tenzin, one day, I will be more than happy to teach you to use this."  He picked up his boomerang and sheathed it behind his back.  "But for now, you need to go play."

"No play!"  The toddler stomped his foot.  "Fight!"

Sokka did admire his enthusiasm.  "Can you listen to me for a minute?"  Tenzin nodded.  Sokka took both hands in his.  "Fighting is a bad, nasty thing.  You should never fight, not when there's good playing to be done."  He smiled at his nephew.  "Play and have fun for as long as you can.  That is all you have to do."

Tenzin smiled and wrapped his arms around Sokka's neck.  "Love you Unkie Sokkie!"

Sokka hugged him back.  "Love you too.  Now go have fun with your dad."  He gave the boy a slight push and he was off, bounding through the field toward Aang and Katara.

"That was pretty good."

He faced his wife, who was still lying on her back.  She hadn't said much all afternoon.  "Thought you were sleeping."

She flipped a hand at him, dismissing the comment.  "When are you ever going to learn that I am always aware of everything?"

Sokka lay down beside her.  "I'm learning.  It just takes me a while is all."

"As I was saying," she continued, "what you told Tenzin was really good."  She cleared her throat.  "You're going to make a great dad yourself you know."

"Hmm.  We'll see."  Toph whispered something almost unintelligible.  Sokka thought he heard properly, but it was something she needed to repeat.  "What did you say?"

"I said that yes, we will see."

Sokka froze.  An unexplainable panic coursed through him, though it wasn't a bad sort of panic.  It was more of an anxious excitement.  "And when will we see?"

She squeezed his hand then placed it, palm down, against her abdomen.  "In about seven months."