The settlement of the Southern Water Tribe had seen more changes in the past two days than the previous two years. Flimsy tents had been replaced with buildings of ice, with the canvas and fur lining the windows and floor. A solid wall ringed the settlement now instead of an oversized snowball fort. It was on one of the new ramparts that Kanna walked now, carefully inspecting the design because sitting still to think was one of the many luxuries she had given up long ago.

Since the return of the Avatar, the Southern Water Tribe had had hope, but precious little else as winter approached the bottom of the world. Kanna had faced the coming season with the same stubborn determination that had gotten her through every other obstacle in her path. Life was about choices. As long as you had a choice, life was good. She had chosen to move to this end of the world, chosen to carry on when winter took her husband and war, her daughter, chosen to guide the families left behind by the warriors of the tribe.

But now a figure from her past was here leading a contingent of waterbenders and she felt control slipping away from her. She had spent her entire life avoiding rescue, but couldn't turn down the help those in her care so desperately needed. She was trying to feel gratitude, but it kept slipping into something else. Kanna was too honest to pretend it was anger when she recognized shame and fear. Shame, because she was proud of her independence. And fear – but not of losing that independence. It was something more insidious.

"Kanna?" She turned at her name, fully expecting the interruption and visitor.

"Pakku." Her tone was as carefully neutral as his expression. The weight of the history between them made the silence heavy.

"I brought you Oolong tea. I seem to remember that it's your favorite. Or at least, was."

Tea? Tea was a luxury in the best of times down here, when someone could be spared to make the month-long trip to the earth kingdom to trade. Since the warriors left, it had gone from luxury to wistful dream. Kanna smiled, and the sparkle in her blue eyes forcibly reminded Pakku of their past courtship and her granddaughter.

With a gesture that managed to convey irony, she invited him up onto the turret he had created the day before. It was out of the biting wind, but still in sight to those below, satisfying propriety, privacy and comfort.

"It still is – although, I must admit, I've become much less picky now that I'm deprived." Kanna politely allowed Pakku a moment to backtrack from his wandering thoughts back to their conversation. "More than tea, though, I am woefully deprived of news of my grandchildren – and the war. But let's start with family."

The pair settled down and Pakku poured the tea, offering Kanna the first cup. There was no better opening to prove how he had changed. "When we left them two weeks ago, they were headed to meet General Fong. The Avatar has yet to master waterbending, but I have full confidence in Katara's ability to teach him everything he needs to know. She achieved mastery faster than anyone I've ever known."

The sincere admiration and fondness caught Kanna off guard more than the news. She had expected Katara to win a place among the men – winning Pakku over was another story entirely. She basked in pride over her granddaughter, savoring her accomplishments and the tea for a long moment. "And Sokka?"

Pakku abruptly reverted to his normal self. "He… is well. I'm sure he'll be solid support for Aang and Katara." He took a sip to search for more to say. "I didn't see him much, as he isn't a bender, but I understand that he was very brave in the battle against the Fire Nation."

"Battle?"

Pulled up short, Pakku belatedly realized Kanna had been too busy organizing the restoration to catch up on the news. Long after the tea had run out they continued to catch up on the war and each other's lives, continually circling, but never quite settling on the subject of why she had left and why he had followed, forty years later.

When night fell, the two broke apart to their respective homes after a quick detour to get her a box of the precious tea. Setting the wooden box down carefully at the foot of her pallet, Kanna moved around her new home, rearranging her things and making mental notes of what changes needed to be made. Her mind drifted back to her fear of that morning, and she realized that it was gone.

She recognized it by its absence. It was a fear of having given so much of herself so that she and hers could survive that she was stripped of everything that wasn't essential to survival: everything that made her an individual, everything that made her desirable as a woman. It seemed almost silly now. She had lived and loved in the most inhospitable place on earth, through the longest and most vicious war in any history, and kept going with more responsibilities and less resources each year.

Kanna wasn't dead yet, so she must be one of the strongest people alive. She chuckled and thought fondly of Katara, who had inherited that strength in abundance. Imagine, taking on a master bender completely untrained and showing him a new move in the process. Pakku had been abashed as he described the disks of ice hurtling at his head, even more so when he described finding the necklace he had carved for her so long ago.

Kanna picked up the box of tea again, closing her eyes and inhaling a scent she remembered so well from childhood. It had been a long time since she had a betrothal necklace. For the first time in years, she hugged herself in happiness.