The origin of waterbending.
I don't own ATLA
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The ocean has always been the most powerful thing on the planet. The huge expanse of water is larger, deeper, stronger and infinitely more mysterious than anything else on the face of the earth. So the only thing that has ever held any influence over such an awesome entity is naturally, not on the planet.
Four times a day, twice in, twice out, the waters of the ocean succumb to the beauty that is our moon.
The mighty spirit La and his shining counterpart, the goddess Tui. The ocean and the moon, forever circling each other in a never-ending dance.
They were lovers. La was enamored of the only thing that had ever been more power over him. He hated her and loved her and lusted after her. Tui loved everything, so she loved La. She loved him from afar, sending her pure light washing over his being, alighting his black depths with millions of silver sparkles.
But one day, as Tui gazed down at the planet she loved, her light fell across something in the ocean that was not black water or silver glimmers. It was a human called Sangilak and he was caught in a ferocious storm. The canoe he was in bucked and tossed in rough waves.
This was nothing new, for La held little respect for the humans, as weak and helpless as they were, and regarded them as his playthings, often sending storms such as these or floods or ice to see how they could cope.
And this human wasn't doing well. Tui watched in horror as a wave crested and slammed into the doomed vessel, hurling the man into the cold water. He floundered about briefly before sinking below the surface and not reappearing.
Without a second thought, the goddess called upon her influence over water and the human was washed to the nearest piece of land, a tiny stretch of rock that was devoid of any life except for a few dozing turtle-seals.
But the island only stayed above the waterline for part of the day. When the tide came in the sea would reclaim it. And since Tui loved everything, Tui loved the human. So she used her powers to heal the unconscious man and extract the water that had filled his lungs.
When Sangilak opened his eyes, the moon spirit spoke to him and explained his situation, and the man wept, for he was miles from any land and could not swim the distance, so he would surely drown. Tui could not bear to see the human's tears, so she bestowed on him the gift of influence over water so that we could escape the island.
La watched the scene with growing rage, and his rage was great. He was a jealous and closed-minded spirit and did not understand that Tui could not help but love everything. He wanted he affections to belong to only him, so he sent a great wave towards the human in order to wipe him out.
But Sangilak threw out his arms and halted the wave. In disbelief, La sent wave after wave at the tiny island, only to find that none reached their destination. This sent the god into a raging tantrum. He kicked up whirlpools and waterspouts and waves taller then mountains. But the human calmly stepped off the rocks and onto the surface of the water, and the place where his foot touched stilled and froze into ice that shone with the light of the moon.
And Sangilak walked across the ocean and back to his tribe, leaving silver patches of ice that stood out starkly against the darkness of the water.
La sent his rage after the human, but Sangilak fended him off. He built a great wall of impenetrable ice to protect the village, and his tribesmen regarded him a hero. He married the chief's daughter and settled into a comfortable life with their many children, all whom inherited the goddess's gift. They decided to share their talents with the world, and spread out, healing the injured and conjuring rain in times of drought.
Tui watched over her children lovingly, content that she had done the right thing. But La was filled with bitterness, as he had been tamed by the very beings that he had ruled over for so long. But he loved Tui, so he could not totally hate the beings that filled her with so much joy
So when Tui took to a material body in order to be closer to the humans she held so dear, La followed her out of devotion, for his life was incomplete without the beautiful goddess.
But that world ended in fire, and the blood leaked out of Tui's mortal body and stained to water red, as the moon faded out of existence. And La's rage was set free. Free to hate, he shed his mortal skin and reaped his revenge, sparing only the people of water whom his beloved Tui had loved so much.
Only when the world was once again bathed in the moon's pale light did La suppress his fury and return to his body. Tui was gone, but a mortal girl, one who the moon spirit had loved even more then the others had taken her play in the sky. And La grew to love the girl that his dead beloved had viewed as her own child, for he could not exist without her.