Notes: I think it's pretty obvious by now that I love all of these characters and that I write a lot, so sorry for bombarding eveyone with this. After Meelo I'll finally get to the characters that people undoubtedly care more about, as Lin comes next in the line-up.


She was tired. The kind of tired that made everything hurt, but the pain seemed to focus somewhere behind her eyes, making everything look sharp and her pulse pounded against the thin skin of her eyelids. To top it all off, it was four in the morning, and she was awake just to fit in training time with the three elements that she had already mastered, seeing as the war in the city made her paranoid. She wanted nothing more than to crawl back into bed, but she would hate herself for it once the sun rose. Lastly, Meelo was sitting on the ground, crying hysterically, and it just made tears prick at the corners of her eyes like a burn.

"You're not supposed to be up," she tried to reason with him. "And you know you're not allowed outside alone!"

He wailed louder, a deep gasping sob wracking his small body. He forced his eyes to open slightly just to look up at her as fat tears trailed down his face.

"Y-y-you yelled at m-me!"

Korra pressed the heels of her palms into her eyes forcefully, a blast of color popping behind her closed eyelids before releasing them and blinking back the dark training platform surrounding her.

"I was mad, Meelo!" she said.

"You're mean!"

Korra sighed and hunched forward, looking up at the housing quarters. All the windows were still dark like shining black ice, indicating that despite Meelo's wailing, no one else but her was awake to hear it. Or see her fail utterly at calming down a child. With no audience to impress, she let her legs give out underneath her weight and the weight of the world that she carried on her shoulders, sinking to her knees and plopping down on the ground before the crying toddler.

"I'm sorry I yelled," she said flatly, and his crying slowed as he listened. "I'm just really tired and that makes me mean."

The cries had stopped, but the last tears still fell down already traveled wet paths, while he rubbed his entire hand under his runny nose. Korra frowned at this, as he seemed intent on covering every inch of his fingers and palm with snot. His grey eyes were huge, so bright and open, but the same shade as his father's. She wondered vaguely if Meelo would ever grow up to be a thing like him.

"If you're cranky, take a nap," he ordered seriously. He then twisted his wet hand into his robes to wipe it clean.

Korra smiled and chuckled quietly. "It's not as easy as that. Things haven't been very easy for me lately."

His face scrunched up, as if all of his features suddenly decided to move towards his small, button nose. It just made his head seem far too large for his face, but even so, he finally seemed to resemble Tenzin in personality.

"Naps are easy! How do you mess up a nap? Do you know what's hard?"

Korra's smile pulled wider. "No, what?"

"Going to work. Daddy says it's hard to go to work in the morning. But work's supposed to be hard. Do you go to work?"

She nodded. "Yeah. I go to work with your dad every morning."

His eyes suddenly widened, face dropping into stunned silence. Of course, with Meelo, silence never lasted long, so his face scrunched up once more.

"If naps are hard for you, work must be impossible," he exclaimed. He suddenly stood up and bounced up and down. "I'm going to teach you how to nap, Korra. Napbending!"

"Napbending?" she repeated amused, and she stood. He held out his hand, the clean one thank the Spirits, and she took it.

He dragged her back up to the house. "You can napbend anywhere! Your bed, the floor, the table, the-"

She was instructed to napbend on the couch. He had even grabbed a pillow from his room, fluffed it, and shoved it under her head. She settled in among the cushions but almost instantly was reprimanded for it.

"What? What am I doing wrong?" she mumbled.

"I need room!" he whisper-shouted back.

With a heavy sigh, she shifted, but Meelo jumped onto the couch and managed to fit most of his body on her chest. It pushed the air out of her lungs and she gasped loudly to call it back, but Meelo slapped a tiny hand to the side of her face twice, which for him was probably meant to be a gentle caress.

"Shhhh! Nap time!"

She rolled her eyes but conceded to shut them, not expecting sleep to come. She would wait for him to fall asleep, carry him back to his room, and return to her early morning practice sessions because for the past week, nothing came easy, not even sleep.

Instead she was woken up at seven, eyes opening to find an amused Tenzin standing over them, calling them both to breakfast.