A/N: Thank you to JFAPOI (nice acronym :D), gloomy maiko lover, Kelev, SoullessReaper, Puggles Master, and Orlan Drake for reviewing. :)

Prompt #27: Needle in a Haystack

Characters: Hope, Aang/Katara

Hope had grown up hearing all about how she had come into the world. She heard about how the Avatar and his companions had led her parents and aunt through the deadly Serpent's Pass, how her mother had gone into labor and how Lady Katara, the world-renowned waterbender, healer, and wife of the Avatar, had acted as midwife on the road. She heard about how her name had been given to her after the Avatar shared how hopeful her birth had made him when he had been going through a very rough time.

As a little girl, the story had always enthralled Hope, but as she got older, she had to wonder how anything as simple as her birth could have inspired someone as powerful and influential as Avatar Aang. She'd witnessed plenty of childbirth in her years and it was always messy and resulted in a screaming, squishy baby.

The year she turned thirteen, her parents decided to take the family to Ba Sing Se for the annual celebration of the day the city had been liberated and the Firelord defeated. Avatar Aang and Lady Katara were supposed to make an appearance there, and while Hope really didn't think she'd meet these famous heroes, the idea of going to the city was appealing. She had spent most of her life in a tiny village where the most interesting thing that had happened was when her friend Oshu's cow-pig had a baby with two heads.

Her parents packed up Hope and her two brothers and headed for the big city. The celebration was already in full-swing when they arrived, and Hope drank in the sights, the sounds, the crowds. She was captivated by the displays of various bending, of jugglers and street vendors, bright colors and twirling dancers. She kept twisting to look at everything, overwhelmed by everything there was to see and do.

Maybe that was how she got distracted enough to turn around and find that her parents and brothers were nowhere in sight. Hope stood stock-still, frantically looking every which way, but they were just gone. She shouted for them, but there was so much noise already that her voice was swallowed up in the cacophony of other voices and sounds.

Suddenly the city seemed much less enchanting and a lot scarier. What did she know about cities? She was a country girl. There were so many streets here and she had heard her parents' tales about how massive Ba Sing Se was. What if she couldn't find them? Looking for them here would be like looking for a needle in a haystack. What if someone bad found her first? What if--

"Are you lost?"

The gentle voice broke through her panic, and she whirled to find a very pretty woman gazing at her with concern in her blue eyes. She had a tiny baby in a sling across her chest and was holding two small children by the hands. Beside her, also looking worried, was a tall man wearing a round cap over his head. He had a toddler strapped to his back and one more child beside him.

Hope looked at the young family as she nodded. "I just turned around and my family was gone and I haven't lived in Ba Sing Se since I was a year old…"

"It's okay. We'll help you find them," the man said reassuringly. "Did you lose them right here?"

Hope nodded, and the man smiled. "Then we'll just wait here with you and see if they come back. That's the best thing to do if you're ever lost in a crowd like this. If they don't come back, then we'll still find them. No problem."

One of the children holding the woman's hand held a bag of colored candy toward her. "Do you want to share my candy?" She was maybe four years old, and looking at Hope earnestly. "The blue candies are really yummy."

Hope felt herself relax ever so slightly. It was hard to be anxious when faced with such kind people. Before she could answer the child one way or another, the little girl plucked out a blue candy, pressed it into Hope's hand, and beamed. "There you go!"

"Thank you," Hope managed.

"Hope!"

Clutching the sticky blue candy in one hand, Hope turned at the sound of her father's familiar voice, relief sweeping over her. "Dad!" she shouted, waving as she spotted him through a gap in the crowd. Her mother and brothers were right behind him, and as soon as her mother reached her, she grabbed Hope and squeezed her.

"You scared us half to death, Hope!" her mother told her.

"Hope?" The kind man behind her stepped forward, looking at her and then at her parents. "I can't believe it! Than? Ying?" A huge grin swept across his face. "It is you!"

Baffled, Hope stared between her excited parents and the equally excited strangers. The woman with the baby was clasping her mother's hands tightly and exclaiming, "It's been so long! What are the chances of running into you here?"

"We knew you would be here, but we certainly didn't expect to run into you on the streets," Hope's father laughed.

"We wanted a chance to enjoy the celebrations incognito for a little while," the man admitted as he shook her father's hand. He was still looking fondly at her parents, and more strangely, at Hope herself.

"Oh, Hope." Her mother put an arm around Hope's shoulders. "This is Avatar Aang and Lady Katara."

As Hope stood there wide-eyed, Lady Katara hugged Hope, careful not to squish the baby, and said, "The last time I saw you, you were about this big." She pointed at her own infant. "I'm so glad to see you all grown up."

"Y-You're…" Hope tried to wrap her mind around the idea that she had just run into two of the world's most famous people--two of the people who were pivotal in the story of her beginning--and not known it. She was still holding the candy their daughter had given her. She had somehow pictured them--differently. More obvious, maybe. They seemed so normal, just a family out enjoying the festivities.

"Dad, Dad, look!" One of the other children, a boy, pointed at nearby jugglers tossing glass plates and cups through the air. "Do you think you can do that?"

"I think I'd drop all those glasses on my head," Avatar Aang said with a laugh.

"Maybe I can learn to do it," the boy said thoughtfully. "Can we go watch them?"

"You can learn it if you put your mind to it," Avatar Aang told him. "And yes, we can go get a closer look." He glanced at Hope and her family. "Would you like to join us?"

"That would be wonderful," Hope's father said warmly.

Her mother clasped Hope's arm firmly in her own, probably to make sure she didn't lose her again, and Hope followed dumbly as her family walked with Avatar Aang and Lady Katara toward the jugglers. She listened as introductions of their children and Hope's brothers were made.

As they stopped to watch the jugglers, the little girl who had given her the candy smiled up at her. Hope slowly smiled back and opened her fist, looking down at the blue candy briefly before putting it in her mouth. She leaned toward the little girl and said, "You're right. The blue candies are very yummy."

"The green ones are good, too. Here!"

Hope was presented with a green candy this time. As she took it, she realized that maybe in meeting this family, it was a little easier to understand how her birth might have had an impact on them. (They did seem to be very fond of children.)

And maybe these famous, powerful people were a lot more like her and her own family than she had ever imagined.