Don't you dare, VividDreamer! Don't you dare! XD

You know, I never thought of whether or not Azula would still be around in Korra's time, but it's entirely possible. And I agree, Korra and Azula would get along famously. Too famously, I think. XDD Please, if you do follow up on that plotbunny, let me know.

And thanks, Summer, Lara Croft! (Good heavens, I have a celebrity reading this.) I greatly appreciate what you all and Flipdarkfuture (and VividDreamer) said-to say that I am keeping them in character is a great compliment. Thank you very much.

("Because. I. Can." Good grief, Summer. XDD)

I think I'll let this next one introduce itself, because I don't want to get too much into it. Yet. XD Thank you very much again, everyone, for reading. (And especially for commenting, as always.)

4: Lack of Air

Training Korra in Waterbending had been both a joy and a challenge, especially at the beginning.

"Now, this is a water whip," Katara had said to Korra, early in their training. "It's one of the first things I learned." She had drawn water up out of its bucket, held it in a shiny blob at midlevel, then had stepped forward and lanced out with her hand and arm. The water had followed, lashing out in a whip a few finger's widths across. She had brought it back into a blob. "Now you try."

The six-year-old had taken the water from Katara, focused, then lunged. The whole blob had gone splashing into the wall.

"Well, no, good try." Katara had collected the water and "handed" it to Korra. "Try it again."

Korra had concentrated again, then had thrown out an arm. Again the water had flown into the wall.

"Okay, let me show you." Katara had gathered the water up again. "Let's try this…slowly. Watch what I'm doing. I think about the strand of water I want to make, and I narrow my hand to control what I'm doing, see? Then I slowly draw the water out from the ball, and…" A rope of water had spanned from the shimmering ball out to Katara's extended hand. "See?"

"Oh—like this?" Korra had taken the water back and repeated Katara's moves, step for step, the water stopping at her fingertips just the way Katara's had.

Katara had brightened. "Exactl—" Then she had frowned, suspicious. "Did you know how to do that all along?"

"No…" Korra had shrugged. "I learned from what ya showed me."

A skeptical look. "Uh-huh."

"I still wanna do this." And Korra had thrown the water ball into the wall again.

Now, a few years later, Korra whipped her water back and forth with panache, formed waves of it with the barest flick of her wrists and sent them crashing down wherever she pleased, froze it into ice on the spot or threw up walls of ice with graceful and fierce precision. She was well on her way to becoming a master Waterbender—at eight. Katara shook her head and smiled at the thought.

She even saw Korra "sneaking" other Bending moves into her Waterbending, which was rather interesting. A hard foot stomp an Earthbender might use brought a water wall down, preparatory to flinging it in an ice shard attack. Firebending-style punches sent globs of water at a target. Katara made note to mention that to the rest of the White Lotus. It was very interesting.

Yet of all the things Water might have lent itself to in terms of use through other styles, Air was absent. When Korra flowed with Water, she flowed into a new attack, not into an evasive move. It was indeed classic Waterbending style, but given how fluent Korra was already with other bending styles… it was peculiar.

So, Katara thought she would explore it.

"I'm curious about something," she announced at the end of a training session.

"Yeah? What?"

"You've been able to bend Water, Earth, and Fire ever since the White Lotus found you. Have you ever tried to bend Air?"

"Yeah," Korra said slowly. "I have."

"And?"

Korra stood there for a moment, searching for an answer, then shrugged. "Guess I just can't."

"Really? Nothing at all?"

"Yup." Korra swayed from side to side. "Guess I don't need it."

"Guess you don't need it?" Katara was incredulous, and amused. "What makes you say that?"

"Wellllllll… I didn't know how to do it then, but I do know how to do everything else, so… maybe I just don't." Korra continued to sway.

"You could learn how to do it, you know. You didn't know how to make ice until you met me."

"Yeah, that's true."

Katara was still amused. "Well, fortunately for you, you have to learn about that last, after Water, Earth, and Fire."

"I guess that's good."

Katara tilted her head. "Any ideas why you can't Airbend?"

More swaying. "Nope."

Katara carried the buckets back to the sink. "I think you're going to have to learn Airbending at some point. All the other Avatars did."

"So just because I can't, and just because they did, you think I'll have to?"

"Yes. All the other Avatars have."

"That's pretty judg-judgmental, don't you think?"

"Judgmental?" Katara wondered where Korra had learned that word. She turned to face Korra. "Why?"

"Well… just because I can't Airbend doesn't mean I'm not a good Avatar."

"Korra, sweetie, I'm not saying that at all." Katara grew concerned. "I'm sure you'll be a perfectly good Avatar—but learning how to Airbend is an important thing. It is part of being the Avatar. Because you don't know how to do it now, it may be more difficult for you to learn how later. That is not a bad thing."

Katara brought her hands together. "The Avatar before you, my husband, Avatar Aang, had real problems learning how to Earthbend. He did learn how to do it, though, and he used Earthbending as much as the other bending arts if not more. He did it by learning how to do and be something he couldn't naturally be—tough and stubborn. Rocklike." She laughed. "That's something Aang definitely wasn't, let me tell you."

"So don't worry about it!" said Korra. "I'll learn how someday! Don't worry!"

Katara put her hands on her hips. "Well, you got confident awful fast!"

"Of course! I'm the Avatar, and I'm gonna deal with it!"

Katara couldn't help but break up at that. "Now who's saying that line?" They laughed together.

The good feeling lasted for a while, but the more Katara thought about it, the more she grew concerned. Something was missing. For all that Korra could bend three of the four elements so early, why couldn't she bend the fourth? Why couldn't she bend Air?

Or is something really missing? Katara wondered to herself in bed one night. Before Aang started training in Water with Master Pakku, he did try to study Fire with Jeong Jeong, and he did manage to bend Fire. She winced. Even if he wound up burning me in the process.

That would have made three elements Aang was able to bend then—Air, Water, and Fire. Just like Korra can bend three now.

At that point, Katara realized how late it was, and decided to leave things there for the night. She snuggled into bed.

That is good to think about, Katara thought as she went off to sleep. Maybe it is just a matter of time.