After a long day full of complicated history lessons and traditional water-bending techniques, it was finally time to settle down for the evening. Master Katara had just finished tidying up around the compound, ending the tasks by making last adjusments to Korra's clothes. She had to make sure everything was just right - because today, the young Avatar was going to meet someone very special.
"Are they heeeere yet?"the small girl pestered, barely able to stay still as the older woman patted down the stray hairs defying Korra's hair bands."Soon, my dear," she reassured her, pulling away to examine the room in a quick, visual sweep.
When Katara leaned up to a stand, she smiled down at Korra approvingly, hands clasping together in adoration. It wasn't often people were granted the chance to see the tiny prodigy in clean attire. The sight itself was just as unbelievable as the mere thought of it. Her gaze shifted when the child peered around her at the approaching footsteps.
"Hello, Mother,"Tenzin strode in quietly, a small smile subtracting from the usual seriousness.
"Tenzin, so good to see you," Katara sighed, reaching up to give him a hug.
"You're just in time to meet her, she's finally all clean - and in one place," the elder woman joked, turning slightly to peer over her shoulder. She extended an arm to beckon the girl. "Come over here, Korra. There's someone here to meet you."
"Ah," Tenzin advanced just a step closer, tilting his head down at the girl. He smiled. She scooted closer, almost hesitantly, angling herself behind Katara to dodge his range of vision. With a laugh, Katara side-stepped, placing a hand against Korra's back. With a gentle nudge, she looked from her and back up to Tenzin.
"Don't worry, Korra. It's alright."
Korra huffed and stomped towards the air bender with imaginary authority. To prove this sudden boldness, both hands propped against her hips, bottom lip jutting out along with her belly, as her posture straightened.
"Hello there, Korra," Tenzin said, crouching down to even out the height difference between them. He smiled a bit wider this time, lifting a hand in greeting to invite her closer.
Korra studied him carefully, her head shifting up and down at the yellow and red robes, his bald head and dominant tattoos. The defensive glare softened by the time her eyes met with his, and she gasped.
"AVATAR AANG!"
The shout came out in surprise, as if the realization should have been obvious to her from the start. With a new excitement, Korra throws her arms up in the air to accompany her cheers, propelling herself onto him seconds later. She extends a small palm and plants it against Tenzin's forehead where his air master tattoos began.
There's a silence.
At first, nobody speaks. Tenzin doesn't get it, just yet. The name he should be accustomed to hearing by now, leaves him in a momentary paralysis. It's not his—but the abrupt contact to his forehead makes the connection click together. The air in the room thins out from the tension, but it's only obvious to Katara and Tenzin; while they look to Korra, she looks up at Tenzin with innocent eyes that have yet to experience the pain of loss. Katara lifts a hand to clutch lightly at her chest, a sense of overwhelming emotion washing over her face.
Korra thinks he is Aang.
"I-"
Tenzin's smile still holds, though it doesn't quite reach as far as before. It's strained, completely obvious to the pain constricting in his chest, and the burden thickening in the space between them. Katara moves to correct the young Avatar, but Tenzin interjects politely.
"No, Korra," he starts out slow, and steady."I am Master Tenzin—and your air bending teacher, when the time comes."
He doesn't go any further in correcting her. He doesn't go on to say, 'Avatar Aang was my Father,' because it still hurts. Even after all these years. It is nowhere near this child's burden, so for now, it's a pain he'll endure. The same way his Mother is, holding back tears that he hates to imagine will fall long after he returns to Republic City.
Korra frowns, confused, but somehow doesn't question the correction.
Katara exhales carefully, tucked away in the distance in which she's separated herself into. She knows that this time is for her son and the new Avatar - a meeting that's hard, but one she's already come to terms with. Tenzin recollects himself and reinforces the smile that's almost faded. It fits perfectly over the re-opened wounds, but it's only strong enough to fool the child; he can't handle looking over to his Mother. Instead, his eyes look to Korra's.
What does he see when he looks into them? Those icy, blue hues, unmistakably hailing from the Southern Water Tribe? It's a collection of things. Strength and bravery, yet a peaceful bliss of youth lingers, peeking from under soft eyelashes.
And despite the absence of his father -
Korra is beautiful.
Thumbing against the back of her hand, he sighs quietly to himself, studying her face in wonder. All of this tastes bittersweet to him. He wonders for how much longer he can look into her bright eyes, before they dim under the burden of expectation of the world. He wonders if it will be another case of witnessing the weight of the Avatar title press into her shoulders on late nights. If one day she'll wish the title was not hers to hold. He wonders if she'll grow upset one day and run off, scared. Fear flooding his senses just imagining the girl clashing into a terrible fate that leaves her frozen in the ocean—
He stops in his thoughts, when Korra's smile grows; it reaches her eyes this time.
She's just a child.
'I'll always be here for you,' he thinks to himself, somewhere in the hideaway of his mind. Mistakes of decades ago would never be repeated.
Korra wiggles her fingers to slip from his grasp. There's not a pause in her movement as she leans forward and tucks herself against him in a hug. Her face nestles into the fold of his robes, and she closes her eyes. The act is as unpredictable as it is endearing and Tenzin can feel the moisture pricking at his eyes, which leads him to close them as well, as he hoists the young Avatar closer from against an outward knee. A hand cradles the back of her head while the other arm secures around her waist.
It's a habit that's hard to stop, but in the darkness behind his lids, he allows himself a moment of meditation. He follows the gentle rise and fall of her chest against his, the way her tiny heart beats about twice as fast as his.
Tenzin pulls her closer into the embrace, and he's home.
A home not just of the past, but of the present and even the future, too. Even as he's knelt down with the new Avatar in his hands, in the middle of the South Pole - he's home. A feeling he thinks belongs only to him, a feeling only he can identify with, but he's wrong.
Korra feels it, too.
She already knows this man. Even with calling him by the wrong name, the manifestation of a past life strengthens their bond. This is the reason she's so calm and comfortable around him, because love transcends over lifetimes, and even when it's thought to be gone, it takes on new forms and carries on throughout a new course.
All of this - this new Avatar journey, the training, the difficulties ahead - that could wait. When the time came, those bridges would be crossed. But, for now, this - this was fine, too. The Hundred Year War wasn't won in a day, and like the cycle of the seasons, with time, Korra would grow into an Avatar the world could depend on, and even he, himself, would continue growing.
"It was a pleasure meeting you," he says, pulling back to meet her gaze again.
'And welcome back.'
Tenzin gives a nod, before lifting the girl from his knee to set her on her feet. He comes to a slow stand and offers her one last smile. A genuine smile, this time.
Looking back over to Katara, he strides over to her and they exchange one last hug before his departure back to Republic City. The water bender gives a shaky sigh of relieve, adding a supportive pat against her son's back. It was hard, but Tenzin found a strength within him and pulled through. "Thank you Mother, I'll keep in touch."
As Tenzin turns to leave, he lifts a hand to wave at Korra. She's already run back to hug against Katara's leg. A cheeky grin smooshes against the Master robes.
"Bye, Master Tenzin!"
He pauses.
The words hit him before he has a chance to speak again. His eyebrows raise to his forehead for a split second, before he quickly straightens his face to clear his throat. It wouldn't be favorable to have his voice crack, now. Master Tenzin - that is who he is. Who he always will be, and it's something, hopefully, one day, he won't have to keep telling himself.
But for now, this is enough.
"Bye, Korra. We'll meet again, soon."
Sometime in the future, and even years from now. There's a long way to go, a lot to cover, and an undetermined future for the world, but Tenzin has faith it will be safe in the hands of the new Avatar.
That's enough to help cope with the passing of his Father, and enough to begin the process of letting go. Avatar Aang has fulfilled his destiny, his time has come to an end. Korra is the continuation of that legacy, from where she'll create her own and pass it down to the Avatar to come after her. It is a chain that will always breathe new life. From this, Tenzin reaches a new outlook for the future, and a sense of self that hadn't quite been there before.
Everything would be just fine.
Hours later, after her son is long gone on his way back to Republic City, Katara prepares Korra for bed, sharing more stories of the adventures with Aang, her brother, along the rest of the gang; setting the stepping stone for building moral lessons in which will serve the girl well, as she grows.
And from there, Korra eventually drifts to sleep, dreaming of a day when, she too, will create memories that will last for decades to come.