"Pabu! Where are you?" Bolin called. "This isn't our house and- oh! There you are little guy." Pabu chirped happily and bounced over to Bolin. "What do you have here?" The fire ferret gently released the piece of paper into his master's hands. Bolin surveyed what seemed to be a painting. There were eight people, all looking to be about his age, and an old man in what looked like a tea shop. Many of the kids, including the bald monk, looked vaguely familiar, but the only real Air Nomad he had ever known was Tenzin, so Bolin dismissed it. He had never seen a group of people look so happy just to be in each other's company.

"That's one of my favorites," said an aged voice from the doorway. "Aang had just turned sixteen and we all met at the Jasmine Dragon to celebrate. Later that night, he took me out onto the balcony and shoved something into my hand and starting babbling. 'I made this for you. I know that it's a Northern Water Tribe custom, but I didn't know what else to do. I'm sixteen now, which again is a Northern Water Tribe thing, but I think it's a good age and we don't have to do anything right away, we can wait as long as you want if you even want to in the first place, but I've known for a long time now, Katara, that I !' I laughed and told him to slow down, that there was nothing to be nervous about. He then asked me to marry him, right there in the same spot we had our first real kiss. He was so funny. He actually thought I'd say no." The old waterbender smiled softly as she took the painting from the boy's hands.

"So that," Bolin pointed to the airbender in the painting, "is Avatar Aang?"

"No." Bolin's face twisted in confusion. "It's just Aang."

"It's so weird."

"What is?" Katara inquired.

"You talk about Avatar Aang like he was just some normal person, not like he was a superhero with incredible powers."

"He was a hero, with powers beyond your imagination, but he was also my best friend. Korra's just a normal person, isn't she?"

"Korra's amazing, but she's the Avatar, not the Avatar Aang."

Katara chuckled. "No, she certainly isn't. Korra and the boy I found in the iceberg are two very different people. Back then, I didn't even know he was the Avatar. He was just some goofy kid who liked penguin sledding and licked his frozen glider because he thought it was funny when his tongue got stuck."

"What's penguin sledding?"

"I'm afraid I'm getting a bit old for it. You're going to have to ask Korra or Ikki to show you. Or Lin. She always seemed to have a natural talent for it. She reminds me so much of her mother."

"Is that her?" Bolin pointed to a pale young woman in the picture with her hair styled in the same way as the statue outside the police headquarters. "Chief Beifong, I mean. The first one."

"Oh, just call her Toph. None of us ever used titles outside of political proceedings, and Toph ignored them even then. She had her own nicknames for us. It was horrible sometimes. It was so hard to take Aang seriously during the peace meetings with Toph calling him 'Twinkle Toes,' especially since he always responded."

Bolin laughed. "Who is everyone else?"

"Well, that," she pointed to a man who bore a resemblance to herself, "is my brother, Sokka, and his girlfriend Suki. I'm right next to Aang, and I think you can guess who that is." She pointed to a man with what had come to be an iconic scar.

"Fire Lord Zuko?" guessed Bolin.

"Yes, and next to him is Mai, and next to her is Ty Lee. And the old man is Zuko's Uncle Iroh."

"Who's Ty Lee? I don't think I've heard of her before."

"She's better known in the Fire Nation, but how about I tell you more after dinner. That's the reason I came in the first place, to let you know dinner was ready. I guess I got sidetracked. Oops…"

They wandered into the small dining room and were met with mixed reactions.

"Gran Gran! We started eating without you, cause Meelo was very, very, very hungry. I hope that's okay!" Ikki cried.

"I tried to stop them Mother," Tenzin blushed, embarrassed at his lack of control over his own children.

"Oh, it's nothing to worry about. I'm sorry you had to wait so long. Bolin had found an old picture and I got a little sidetracked." Bolin and Katara took their places at the table, cueing all the adults that they could finally eat.

Korra turned to Bolin. "Which story did you get to hear?"

Before Bolin could answer, Ikki interrupted, "My favorite is the one where you threw a dance party for a bunch of Fire Nation kids!"

"I love the one about the time they escaped from the Fire Nation prison," Jinora sighed.

"What about the one where Zuko and Aang met the dragons? That had to have been so cool!" exclaimed Korra.

Bolin tried once again to speak, but was interrupted by Lin. "I like the time you stole that waterbending scroll from the pirates."

Katara cleared her throat. "Bolin found the painting we had done when we were at the Jasmine Dragon for Aang's sixteenth birthday. I told him about when he proposed." Mako chuckled when all of the girls sighed.

"Wow," said Mako. "It sounds like you had some amazing adventures."

"I would love to hear more about them sometime," Asami smiled.

"Why don't I tell you all more after dinner?" suggested Katara. "I already promised Bolin I'd tell him more about Ty Lee, but after that, someone else can pick."

"Yay!" squealed Ikki. "Daddy! What's your favorite story?"

Tenzin smiled. "I'm particularly fond of the story of when your Grandmother and Grandfather first met, Ikki."

"Ah yes, the beginning," Katara sighed. "A very good place to start."

A/N: I really want to continue this, but I make no promises, so it's complete for now. I don't want it to turn into one of those 'everybody watches Avatar' fics, but it feels like it may end up going that way. More than anything, I thought it would be interesting to compare the world's picture of Aang to Aang the person, and Bolin, Asami, and Mako are the perfect way to do that. Oh yes, and because I probably didn't make it clear, this takes place in the Southern Water Tribe, a day or two after Korra gets her bending back.

Also, every time I read my own writing, I notice that it's usually dialogue driven, and although that's strong, my prose needs some work. Any suggestions?