[ He knows they have plenty of volunteers for babysitting. It's touching, really -- in a saccharine way. But Asami, Mako and Bolin each have their own lives. Expecting them to drop whatever they're doing at a moment's notice, always at the baby's beck and call, is impossible. Sure, for an evening or two out of the week, they'd be available, obliging. But a few hours of toting a squealing half-pint around aren't the same as constructing your entire schedule around its feeding times, its naps, its baths, its diaper-changes. For such pin-dot care, you need someone who's invested in nothing except the baby's welfare. A stay-at-home parent. Or, if both parents work, then a housekeeper. ]

[ Korra's tone communicates doubt, but her gaze is receptive. Sifting through options, Hei tries to consider candidates who'll fit the criteria. Someone gentle, smart, and trustworthy, who has got what it takes to protect the baby, if necessary. Someone who can cut a swathe through the nasties who will beat a path to their door once they hear the Avatar is a mother. ]

[ I wonder if Pai would be any help? It surfaces with a quiet ache. Every day, provoked by some event or other, he regrets her absence. Even in his own world, after Heaven's Gate vanished, he'd carried the uneasy awareness that a huge, complicated phase of his life was passing by, crowded with significant and deeply emotional experiences, none of which Pai was seeing, none of which she was remotely involved in. It's the same feeling here. ]

[ At length, ]

I'll tell Tenzin to select a few qualified acolytes. We'll interview them. See who clicks with us. Or I'll ask your parents if they know water-benders good with children. A widow. A wet-nurse. Someone they trust.