AN: Thanks for reading. Just a few questions: Should I expand this? Should I add a prequel/sequel? Please review. Thanks again.
Disclaimer: I don't own LoK or AtLA.
For those of you who don't know, I wrote a (kind of) sequel to this. It's called Crashing, and it's about Korra and Mako, and the progression of the beginning of their relationship.
The first time Katara sees the new Avatar, it is when she is visiting a couple of her old students. Senna and Tonraq have just had a baby, and while Katara, unfortunately, missed the birth, having been too busy mourning her husband, she is determined to see the child soon. When she steps into the igloo, already adorned with baby toys and mini parkas, the first thing she sees is Senna bent over a cradle, smiling much like she had when Kya was born.
"I hope I am not interrupting anything," Katara begins, taking in the new mother's joy.
"Oh, no, Sifu. We are honored that you visited us during this happy time," Tonraq replies, from his spot in the corner, where he had been admiring his wife and child.
They usher her over to the crib, where the baby is playing, all smiles and bright eyes. When she bends over the little girl, the grin stirs something inside of her.
"We named her Korra," Senna says, an awed look gracing her face. She is clearly in love with her child.
"It's a wonderful name," Katara replies, already enamored by the endearing bundle in front of her. "Korra."
For some reason, her heart beats a little faster when she says Korra, just like it did everytime she saw Aang. She knows he has come back to her.
The next time Katara runs into Korra, she is with Kya, Bumi, and Tenzin in the center of town, reminiscing about Aang. His death anniversary is tomorrow, and she wanted to spend it children, but being too old to travel, they came to her. At the moment, they are out buying groceries for the meal planned for tomorrow. In the distance, they hear a childish laugh.
"Mommy, mommy! Look what I can do!"
Turning around, she sees a weary, yet happy Senna look on, as a young girl, not more than three or four, engulfs herself in a snowman shape. Katara's children notice the action too, and all three smile sadly, as childhood memories of a laughing father turning three bouncing kids into snowmen surface.
"Korra, we need to buy food for your birthday. Do you want all of your friends to hungry at your party tomorrow," Senna states, clearly exhausted but relishing every moment of her daughter's presence.
Tenzin is the first to catch on, but his connection with his father had always been strongest. He turns to his mother with wide eyes. Kya and Bumi quickly follow suit, questioning glances all directed in Katara's direction.
"That's her, isn't it," Tenzin murmurs, still watching the toddler leap around the marketplace.
"That's dad," Bumi states sorrowfully, feeling the full force of emotion rushing back to him as if his father had magically appeared in front of him.
"Yes," Katara says slowly, as if testing her words in her mind first. "That is your father, but he is now a three year old girl whose birthday is tomorrow, and who does not yet know that she has the weight of the world on her shoulders. We can enjoy him-her, sorry- from a distance for now, but when she is revealed, you all can meet her and see him in her. Let her have a childhood for right now."
She doesn't know that the fateful day will come in just over a year, and that they will be shocked at how similar, but different they are. Aang and Korra are the same, but could not be more opposite at the same time. Katara doesn't know whether to laugh or cry. In the end, in the privacy of her rooms in the compound, she does both.
At the beginning of the first waterbending lesson with Korra, Katara was anxious, not knowing how to teach her. Whether to act like she was Aang, or to pretend that Aang is inhabiting someone else, and not the girl in front of her. She ended up crying when Korra managed to master the push and pull technique. She was so much like Aang.
At the beginning of her second lesson, Katara promises herself to not let herself cry, not matter how much Korra resembles the love of her life. She loses it somewhere while Korra is pretending to be an octopus.
Before the third lesson can start, Korra asks an unexpected question.
"Sifu Katara, do you not want to teach me?"
For a moment, the waterbending master is in shock over how a four year old could ask such a question. Then she crouches down and holds Korra by the shoulder.
"No, Korra. I love teaching you waterbending. Why would you ask such a question," Katara inquires.
"Well, everytime I start waterbending, you cry. I think that's because you don't want to see me waterbending, which would mean you don't want to teach me," Korra explains, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"Korra, you know who the last Avatar was," Katara starts, finding a more comfortable position sitting on the ground, with the child curled up on her lap, "He was my husband, and I loved him very much, but for you to be born, he had to die. So yes, sometimes I get sad, because I miss him a lot, but I wouldn't want him to come back if it means losing you. And yes, I want to teach you, because you remind me of him every day, and that's why I start crying."
"Ok," Korra jumped off of Katara's lap, "But if I make you want to cry again, just tell me, and I'll stop acting like your husband."
Katara chuckles at the four year old perception of what she just said, and as they moved on with their waterbending forms, she thinks that Korra is just like Aang. Never able to read between the lines, whether they be four or forty.
After her firebending test, after Tenzin's visit, after seeing the despair on Korra's face when she realized that she would be locked in the compound/prison until Tenzin deemed it fit to start training her in airbending, she knew what the Avatar would do. Katara knew Aang, and he would do exactly what his successor was preparing for. So, Katara made her way down to the stable where Naga lived, and waited until the seventeen year old realized who was standing behind her.
"Nice night for an escape."
She missed Aang, she missed him so much, and seeing Korra grow up, all the while unwittingly acting just like him, made her heart ache. However, Korra was not Aang, no matter how much her tendencies screamed otherwise, and Korra needed what was best for Korra.
So, Katara decided to aid her in her quest for freedom, the missing element, the reason why she had never been able to airbend. She sent her off with encouraging words and a smile that told her to run and not look back. But inside Katara was breaking. She couldn't do it again. She couldn't send Aang away from her again. Every cell in her body screamed for her to not to let her soul mate go, but she had to let Korra live her life.
But, as Korra sped away from the compound that had been her jail for thirteen years, she felt an odd pulling sensation to go back. Not to the place, that she certainly didn't, and wouldn't, miss. She missed Katara, and suddenly she realized why she had felt an odd bond with the older waterbender all these years. She was Aang, and Aang was her, and Aang fit perfectly with Katara. The thousand voices in her heart told her not to let the love of all of their lives go, but her brain told her to keep going. And for once, she didn't give in to her desires, but she continued on towards her final destination. For Korra knew, deep down, that she would find her Katara in Republic City.
AN: Please review. Tell me how this was, and if I should write a prequel/sequel. Thanks for reading.