It seemed strange that the world just continued turning after all the turmoil and grief of the past few days. Katara looked up at the blue sky and sighed a little.

Toph was reclining against a ridge of rock she had bent upward, her arms folded across her chest, her face shrouded in loose strands of black hair. The waterbender ran her eye idly down the earthbender's body, trying to gauge her mood. She didn't seem angry, but she did seem a bit distracted. But then, we all are right now, she added mentally. Her gaze moved to the two children who were playing by the fountain.

Little Chanya was balancing lichee nuts on broad, flat leaves, and then floating them on the water like boats. Zulie sat beside her. Normally the young princess was the more active of the two; now she was sitting quietly, watching the bobbing leaves with halfhearted interest. Chanya used her waterbending to make a "storm," capsizing all the little boats and laughing. Zulie giggled faintly, but her smile faded soon after.

Katara pulled her knees up to her chest and watched the princess, remembering. I was younger than Zulie is when I lost my mother. She remembered the horrible, aching void she had carried for months afterward – as if her insides had been torn out and replaced with empty air. Gran-Gran used to tell us stories, and that would always help. Maybe it would help Zulie a bit, too. Katara straightened up. "Chanya, Zulie, come here. I want to tell you a story."

"A story!" The little Avatar's eyes lit up. She skipped to where Katara sat and plunked herself on her lap, wriggling with excitement. "Will you tell us a story about Avatars and adventures and dragons and things?"

"Hm." Katara extended her hand to Zulie and smiled. The princess came and sat down beside her; the woman put her arm around her and pulled her close. "How about I tell you the story of Yue, the princess who became the Moon Spirit?"

"Ooh, that's one of my favorites!" Chanya nestled her head against Katara's chest and waited expectantly.

"Have you heard this one, Zulie?" Katara looked kindly down at the Fire Nation child. Zulie shook her head listlessly. "All right. I'll start at the beginning, then. Once there was a city in the north. It was in a land of snow and ice and oceans."

Chanya leaned in Zulie's direction. "That's the Northern Water Tribe," she whispered.

"Don't interrupt, Chanya," Katara reproved gently. The child settled down in her lap with a frown and a wriggle. "Now, there was a beautiful princess in the Northern Water Tribe – her name was Yue. When she was born, she was very sick. Her mother and father pleaded with the Moon Spirit, Tui, to save her life. They dipped her in the sacred pond, where the Moon Spirit and the Ocean Spirit made their home. Yue's hair turned white, and her life was saved, because the Moon Spirit had given her a part of its own spirit to strengthen her." Chanya's eyes sparkled. Zulie was listening, although Katara couldn't tell whether she was enjoying the story or not.

In the background, Toph sat up and turned her ear toward the little group. The Water Tribe woman smiled at her. "When Princess Yue turned sixteen years old, she met a handsome young warrior. They fell in love with each other, and the warrior was very happy. Yue was sad, though, because she was a princess, and the warrior was only a soldier, and that meant they could never be together."

"That's true." Zulie nodded gravely. "When I grow up, I can only marry a nobleman."

So she already knows that at seven years old? Katara rubbed the little princess's back lightly and went on with the story. "A great fleet of battleships attacked the city where Yue lived one day. (This was when the Avatar was visiting them.)" The child in Katara's lap squirmed with excitement. "Even though all of the city's warriors and the Avatar fought bravely, the enemy broke down the wall and flooded in! The admiral of the fleet even made it all the way to the sacred pond, and he killed the Moon Spirit, so that none of the warriors could bend water to defend their homes anymore. The moon disappeared, and there were only stars in the sky."

The princess looked up at Katara, her brow wrinkled. "How could he do that?" she wanted to know. "Spirits can't be killed."

"Not usually, no," Katara agreed. "But the Ocean Spirit, La, and the Moon Spirit, Tui, came to the world a long time ago and took on bodies so that they could help the waterbenders. They became mortal."

Zulie wrapped her arms around herself and scowled, glaring down at her feet. "That was stupid of them," she muttered. "If I was a spirit, I'd never want to die."

Katara paused, wondering if the child would go on, but Zulie was silent. "Anyway," she said after a while, "the Moon Spirit was killed. The Avatar went into the spirit world to find out what could be done. When he came back, he told them that, since a piece of the Moon Spirit lived inside Princess Yue, she could restore the Moon Spirit. But to do it, Yue would have to die." Both children abruptly grew very silent. "The warrior didn't want her to do it, but Yue knew she had to – otherwise, all of her people would be killed or taken prisoner by the invading army. So Yue sacrificed herself, and she became the new Moon Spirit." Katara paused again. "This is the part where the Avatar comes in, Chanya."

"Tell us." The little waterbender laid her head on Katara's shoulder again.

"With the Moon Spirit and the Ocean Spirit restored, the Avatar decided that now was the time to help the city. He merged his powers with La's, and became a huge creature, made all of seawater!" The woman patted Chanya's arm. "As this creature, the Avatar roared through the city and destroyed the invading army. And lastly, in a rage, the Ocean Spirit took the evil admiral who had killed Tui. No one knows what happened to him, but he was never seen again."

Chanya smiled with fierce joy; little Zulie frowned. "What happened to the handsome warrior who loved the princess?" she asked.

"The warrior was very sad," Katara said. "He had loved her, and he missed her when she was gone. But he was strong! He went with the Avatar and fought alongside him, and became a great hero. In the end, he even found a warrior woman to be his wife. He would always remember the beautiful princess, of course – but he loved his warrior bride, and was happy."

Zulie leaned against Katara, sighing and closing her eyes. "I miss my mother," she whispered, "and I can't ever have another one."

"No." The woman hugged her with one arm. "Zulie, did I ever tell you what happened to my mother when I was little?" The princess shook her head without opening her eyes; wetness shimmered on the closed lids. "When I was a little girl – just a bit younger than you – an battleship attacked my village. They were looking for me."

"For you?" This startled Zulie out of her silence; she turned wet eyes on the waterbender. "How come they were looking for you, Ambassador?"

"Just 'Katara' is fine," the woman murmured. "They were looking for me because I was the last waterbender in my village. I didn't know that they were looking for me, of course, but they were. The captain of the ship found my mother and asked her where the last waterbender was. She told him that she was the waterbender, and they killed her. She died to protect me."

The little princess had rested one hand on the arm that encircled her waist; Katara winced as the child's sharp nails began to dig into her skin. "Mother got hurt when she tried to protect Daddy," she whispered.

"That's right." Katara kept her voice soft. "Maybe I didn't get to be with my mother as long as I wanted to, but I always remembered her and loved her. And I knew I could always be proud of her, because she was very brave." She stopped. "Mai…I mean, your mother was a very brave woman. You can always be proud of her." Zulie suddenly cuddled into her, pressing her face into her side, and nodded as tears squeezed from beneath her tightly-shut eyelids. Little Chanya hugged her, and Katara put an arm around each of them. The Water Tribe woman looked up; Toph's blind eyes were gazing in their direction. She and the earthbender exchanged faint smiles.