A/N: the format might be a little confusing (hopefully it's not but just in case) I'll explain it. the first and last page parts are future Mako and Korra as parents while the rest are their separate stories that they are telling their kids. In the story parts every page break is the other's story/ point of view. like it will be Mako story, then korra's story, and then back to Mako's, etc.
single line break means "story-story" doubly line break means "future- story" or "story-future"
oh and my headcanon is that Mako, as a kid, was a lot like Meelo until his parents died and he had to basically grow up.
"It's time for bed, Sweetie." Mako told his daughter as he guided them through the hallway to her room.
"But Daddy, I'm not tired." She whined.
"Kari, it is almost eight o'clock. We let you stay up long enough and now it's bedtime. Your sister is going to bed too. Get into your bed." He reprimanded as she plopped herself onto her bed, sitting with her arms crossed in defiance. "You are almost as stubborn as your mother." He whispered to himself.
"Yeah but I'm two years older than her. I'm nine and she's seven. I should go to bed later than her. I'm not tired." She yawned.
"Yes, you are tired, sweetie, you are yawning. You and your sister have the same bedtime, just because you are older doesn't change that. When she is your age she will have the same bedtime. You are still young. As you get older your mother and I will raise your bedtime, okay. But for now, your bedtime is at eight o'clock, so lay down."
She reluctantly laid down. Mako pulled the blankets over the child.
She closed her bright amber eyes. "I can't wait until I'm old enough to stay up late." She said softly.
"Don't rush it, sweetie." He said as he kissed his daughter on her forehead.
He turned around to leave the room. He was just about to turn off the light when Kari called out to him, he stopped.
"Daddy,"
"Yes, sweetie?" He replied.
"Can you at least tell me a story before I fall asleep?" She asked.
He turned around and smiled. "Yes of course." He sat down on the edge of her bed. She turned on her side facing her father. "So, what story do you want to hear?"
"Can you tell me a story about you with Grandma and Grandpa?"
Mako was surprised that his daughter wanted to know about his parents. He hadn't really talked about them that much to his children. They were too young, he though they wouldn't fully understand. All they knew was that they died when Mako was very young. Mako smiled at the thought that Kira was interested in them, in her grandparents.
"Sure, Sweetie." He paused, thinking about what story to tell. "Oh I know. How about a story of our first vacation?" Kari nodded in delight. "Okay just give me a minute to remember." He paused regaining his thoughts. "So, I was about five years old. Your uncle Bolin was three years old at the time. We didn't have much growing up. Both of my parents worked a lot to keep up with the bills. It was hard for non-benders, at the time, to find a job, but we managed to get by…"
"Mommy! Mommy!" The little boy yelled while holding a piece of paper in his hand as he ran into the kitchen of their one story apartment in the Dragon Flats District.
She sat there at the kitchen table feeding his little brother while his father sat next to her reading the newspaper.
"What is it, Mako?" She asked.
"I drew you and daddy a picture." He handed the woman the piece of paper in his hands.
She looked at the picture. It was poorly drawn but well for a five year old. It showed a white island outlined with blue crayon surrounded by snowflakes. Some blue scribbles were on the island. She looked at her son who was full of excitement and accomplishment. She was confused, trying to decipher what the picture depicted, but she smiled at the boy and thanked him for the picture he drew.
"It's the south pole, Mommy." He said with enthusiasm.
"I can see that, Mako." She lied.
"It's really cool in the south pole. It's cold, they have people there that can bend just like me but with water, and it snows all the time."
"How do you know all of this, Mako?" she said, playing him on.
"We learned about it in school. They have buildings made with snow and ice. I didn't know that there could be that much snow, but there is! I want to go there someday. Can we go, Mommy? Can we? Can we?" He said jumping in joy.
"Umm…" She uttered as she and her husband shared a look.
"Well I did just get a raise at work and we have been saving up." Her husband admitted.
"So you are saying we can go?" Mako ran up to his father's side.
"Sure son, but you have to promise me that you won't go melting all the igloos down there." He laughed as he patted his son's head.
"Yay, south pole!" Baby Bolin rejoiced.
Both Mako's mother and father giggled.
Mako smiled. "Yay! I'm going to go pack." He yelled as he ran out of the room.
"No Mako, wait for me. We still haven't even booked the trip." She yelled out to him. He didn't respond he was too excited to.
_-_-_-_-_(time gap)
"Are we there yet? Mommy, Daddy, are we?"
They sighed in annoyance. "Yes Mako, we are almost there. Now can you please calm down for five minutes while I feed Bolin?"
Mako looked at his baby brother as he tried to grab his food out of his mother's hands. The toddler giggled.
"Mommy, can I feed Bolin?" He said in a calmer tone.
"Sure, Mako." She handed Mako Bolin's food and held the baby so that he faced his brother.
_-_-_-_-_-_(time gap)
"Yay, we are finally here." Mako yelled as he ran off the boat. He took one look at the snow and jumped right into in face first. Mako's parents laughed at his excitement as they traveled along behind him and holding his brother.
"Come on, Mako, we have to check into the inn that we are staying at." Yelled his mother as she gestured him toward her.
"Okay!" He yelled, taking his head out of the frozen ground.
Mako looked at the scenery as they walked through the town. There were a few buildings for public use, while most buildings were small homes. The market place was nothing more than a few stands in a central location. The inn was on the far side of town. Mako sworn that, as they passed a few houses, he had seen a young girl playing with a polar bear dog pup, but he just thought he was seeing things. When they got to the inn, they felt relief from the extreme cold temperatures from the outside. It was much warmer in the inn than the outside. Mako didn't know how that was possible because there was no heating like they had in Republic City and he had only seen one fire burning. Mako, being a firebender, didn't mind the cold, especially since this was what he was excited for over the past few weeks. Mako took in the cold and wide open tundra as if it were a second home. All he wanted to do was run around, but instead he had to unpack.
"Lea, you have to go to sleep now." Korra exclaimed.
"But mommy, I'm not tired. I could stay up all night!" The young girl said as she jumped up and down on her bed.
"But sleeping is no fun."
"But you have to sleep."
"No."Lea said with a pout on her face and shaking her head.
"Okay, I guess I will just have to make you get into bed." She ran over to her daughter and grabbed her. She was tickling her daughter as she forced her to lay down on her bed. They were both laughing as they laid down. Lea then went into her bed.
"Mommy, can you tell me the story of when you first realized you were the avatar?"
"Sure, Honey." She laid down next to her daughter, holding he in her arms.
"I was about four years old at the time; yes I know I realized it at a very young age, but what can I say I was a very determined toddler." She laughed.
"Naga, where are you, girl? There aren't that many hiding places here. Where are you?"A smaller Korra yelled to her polar bear dog pup as she was trying to find her. "Where are you? You can't be far?"
She had been playing with Naga near some of their neighbors' homes. They had been out almost all day. Hide-n-seek was a common game that Korra and Naga used to play. She heard panting from the far side of an ice covered rock that was a few paces away from her. She crept up to the rock silently and peeked around the corner. She saw Naga scrunched up into a small white ball of fluff hiding behind the rock. While Naga was looking the other way Korra silently toddled over toward Naga and jumped on top of the unaware pup. Naga regained awareness and turned over the young girl on her back and stood on top of her. Naga licked her owner's face, Korra laughed in delight. Korra and Naga began rough housing each other until they faintly heard a voice calling for them. They stopped.
The voiced called out to them again. "Korra!" It was Korra's mom.
Korra got up and ran towards her mother with Naga running along the side of her. They ran up to their house to see her mother, Senna, waiting for them.
"Yeah, Ma?" The young toddler asked with her hand on her hip.
"Well I am going to the market and I was wondering if you wanted to come too." Senna exclaimed.
"Really? Yay! Okay I'll come." Korra said in delight.
"You can also take Naga." She said as she started walked in the direction of the market.
"Okay." Korra gestured toward Naga to come with them.
