Momentum
Time can be a cruel creature to the ignorant soul. It had taken her almost a lifetime to figure that out. In her youth she was a vibrant young woman with her whole life ahead of her. She had been driven by the pursuit of excellence in not only her diplomatic career, but all facets of her life. She forgot the passing of the years and dedicated herself to maintaining the peace that avatar Korra had established in republic city. In her young life she had given romance a try, but she could never will herself to stay any of the men she dated for too long. She never felt as though she loved any of them, there was always something missing. It didn't matter to her then, her job was more important than her romantic life anyway. At least that's what she told herself. Secretly, she was always searching for the right person.
It wasn't until it was too late that she realised there was no hope for her having a family of her own. The time truly had slipped away from her unnoticed as the years progressed and changed her from being a driven young woman to a lady of retiring age. She had stopped counting the years that passed because she thought they were unimportant, they held absolutely no relevance to her. This feeling abruptly changed when she reached her sixty fifth birthday. She was more than shocked when she had received a letter from her younger sister Ikki congratulating her on turning sixty five. The card caused her to abruptly stop to reflect on her life. She was proud of her achievements in her career and the knowledge she had gained in her lifetime. However, the old nagging feeling of regret scratched bitterly at her emotions leaving her to wonder why she never made more time and effort to find the right person and have a family.
The unsettling realisation that she was ageing started to dawn on her and settle bleakly in her bones. For the first time in her life, she could feel her age weighing down on her once supple form. The birthday card was just the first in a series of stark reminders of her age. The second one came at the death of her close friend, Korra's husband, Mako. At eighty three years old, Mako had caught a bad case of viral pneumonia that had ripped through the city. Not being the youthful fire bender he once was; he had unwillingly succumbed to the disease. Although Korra tried her best, there was nothing that she could do for him with her healing and after a few days of fighting the disease, he passed away at home gently in his sleep. His funeral was only a small gathering of his close friends and family. She remembered sitting in silence with tears rolling slowly down her wrinkled cheeks as she watched Korra and Bolin say goodbye to the man that had shaped their lives. She observed with glassy eyes and old ears how they looked when they spoke of him. The look of absolute agony that etched itself into Korra's elderly face was beyond heartbreaking to behold, her tortured voice splitting the air with its raw emotion. She made no effort to hide her feelings, and said goodbye to her husband. Not surprisingly, Korra was never the same after her husband passed away. A few months after Mako's funeral, she joined him in the afterlife, leaving the new avatar to be reborn.
After Korra's funeral, Jinora found herself wondering who would be there when she finally left this world. Most of the people that she loved were starting to go. Of her close friends only Bolin was still around. He had settled down young with his beautiful wife and had children of his own by his late twenties. His children had since grown up and had their own children, making him 'Grandpa Bo'. Jinora had always enjoyed visiting him and his wife and reliving memories of their adventures, she also acted as an aunt to their children growing up.
She had her three younger siblings around as well. Ikki always made a point of writing to her at least once a week, telling her all about her work with the air acolytes at the Southern Air temple and giving her the local gossip. Jinora enjoyed the letters and found herself depending on them for a sense of stability in her having to resign from her position as the Air Nomad representative on the council, it had been taken over by the more than capable hands of Meelo's son, Pavan. It wasn't until she had given up her career that she realised how much of her time it monopolised. Jinora discovered that she didn't really have any outside hobbies aside from reading and practising her bending. Unfortunately, there's only so much of those two things you can do for a prolonged period of time. A few weeks after Korra's funeral, Jinora made herself a promise that she would use the time she had left wisely. She decided to leave Air Temple Island to Pavan and travel the world on her sky bison Tashi until she was no longer able.
She travelled for as long as her bones could take it, finally returning to Republic City to live at the age of seventy. The time she had spent travelling had been the best of her life, just as she had promised herself. She had met amazing people and heard incredible stories. a large proportion of her time was spent at the air temples around the world. She ended up spending about six months with her sister at the Southern Air Temple. Ikki had wasted no time in helping to rebuild the Air bender population, having seven children in the space of ten years with her Acolyte Husband, Tseten. Jinora always felt guilty for not having children of her own to continue the rebuilding of the air nomads, but her family had never pressured her in to doing so, which she was extremely grateful for. The time at the Southern air temple she spent with her sister was the last stop on her around the world trip. She regretted having to leave her sister, but somehow Jinora knew she needed to return to Republic City.
Her travels had taken a large toll on her delicate body, which now was starting to fail her. As the days progressed it got harder for her to air bend even though she practiced. She knew deep down that it was probably time to move in to a retirement village where she wouldn't burden her family, where she would be looked after by nurses. The day soon came where she said her final goodbye to Air Temple Island and Avatar Aang Memorial Island. It was also the same day that her Airbending left her. It didn't feel empty like she thought it would, just incredibly sad. She still connected strongly to the air. She left her sky bison Tashi to stay with Pavan on the island and decided to make the call to the nursing home. She was picked up later that day later from Air Temple Island by a comfortable private boat and taken to the nursing home in Republic City.
Adjusting to the new surroundings was surprisingly easy for Jinora; she partially attributed that to her birth element. The nurses that looked after her were polite and obliging, always making sure the residents were comfortable and entertained. The people she met in the home were just as friendly. Games of Pai Sho were popular amongst the residents as well as listening to the radio whilst reading a book or the morning paper. Jinora made sure that she kept herself active by taking long walks in the garden accompanied by one of her favourite nurses, Kayla. She would always tell Kayla stories of her adventures and achievements. Jinora also enjoyed listening to what Kayla had to say about her own life and experiences. They shared a friendship that seemed to transcend time. When Kayla decided to move on from the job, she still came to visit Jinora frequently, bringing her new books to read and stories of her growing children.
It had been almost eight years since she had moved to the nursing home and her body had finally thrown in the towel on her. Jinora's once agile legs had become too brittle to walk and her body too stiff to move properly. She spent most of her time lying in bed looking out the window wistfully to her grandfather's statue. It didn't take long for Jinora to become sick in her weakened state. The doctors came to visit her and told her that her body was starting to shut itself down. There was nothing they could do except make her comfortable in her last days. Jinora accepted the news gracefully, feeling almost relieved that she would soon be free of her imprisoning body. That day she was transported to the hospice for constant supervision.
The room she was given in the hospice had two beds close beside each other; however, when she arrived she was the only person that occupied the room. The room was very homely, painted a pale shade of yellow with a large window on the wall next to her bed. There were comfortable looking cream chairs for guests to sit on whilst they were visiting. All in all, the room was very nice. Jinora found it easy to get to sleep that night. On her second day in the hospice, her entire family came to visit her, taking up most of the room. She knew that they had come to cheer her up, but she also knew that they were there to say their goodbyes. Ikki was the hardest person to say goodbye to and the last to leave her side. When visiting hours ended Ikki cried profusely and held her frail sister in her arms, letting heavy tears spill in to Jinora's wispy grey hair. Finally the time came for them to part ways. Ikki had to be escorted out of the building by the support of her youngest brother Rohan.
In the middle of the night, the bed next to her was filled with shuffling nurses helping the new occupant in to their bed. It was too dark to make out the figure of the new person; it didn't really matter to her if she was perfectly honest. She closed her eyes and drifted back off to a deep sleep. She awoke to the golden rays of morning sunlight penetrating through the curtain and in to her old brown eyes. She squinted and raised a frail hand to shield her eyes. She breathed in laboriously and allowed the morning sun to warm her up. It took her a minute to remember what had happened last night. Jinora lightly turned her head to greet the new occupant. As she looked over toward the bed beside her she almost gasped in shock. A million feelings came cascading down on Jinora as she looked in to the persons eyes on the bed next to her. He looked to be as old as she was, but still seemed to hold the glimmer of youth in his dark grey eyes. He gave Jinora a wrinkly smile as she searched his eyes with her own. This couldn't be happening to her, not now, not after all this time. She couldn't help but let a single tear roll down her cheek.
"I've been looking for you forever." Jinora uttered tenderly, looking deep into his eyes, her emotion painting itself into her features.
"I know." He replied softly, looking at her with absolute understanding.
In that moment, Jinora felt complete. She didn't know his name or what his life was like. She knew nothing about him; all she knew was that she loved him unconditionally and that he loved her back. The old man stretched out his arm creakily to hold out his wizened hand to her. Jinora brought out her own arm without hesitation and softly linked her own hand with his, letting their fingers intertwine. Her long search was finally at an end. She had found the man she had spent her entire life looking for. In that small moment, she felt all seventy eight years worth of love well up inside her for this man. She let her eyes linger as she took one last look at his weathered smile and closed her eyes softly, a smile escaping her lips. Eventually her breathing slowed and slowly, Jinora slipped away and made her way home to the spirit world.
AN: Hey guys, I know I have another story to finish, and it is getting there I promise! This just needed to be written. It all flooded to me, I didn't want to forget it. This is my first attempt at a one shot. and I really hope you liked it. Please review and feel free to PM me if you have any suggestions for pairings of stories I should write.
As always, thank you for reading.
I don't own LOK.
Hazelehm