Special thanks to mywildimagination for the prompt Katara meets a young Korra for the first time. A huge big THANK YOU to two of my regular readers who always leave such lovely reviews, jokermask18 and MayFairy-you guys are amazing. jokermask18, your koh prompt is still in process in my head. :) Hopefully it will become a chapter soon.
Anyway, leave your thoughts/prompts in a review, and what did you guys think of Korra not remembering who she is? (Did you notice how that airbending move she does at the end of the episode is the same one Aang does in the title sequence?!)
The girl isn't quite what Katara is expecting.
Eyes that seem to blue in her tiny face peer at Katara through a mess of brown hair and her pulled up hood. Korra tugs at Katara's arm. "Hi, Sifu Katara!"
Her squeaky voice is so full of childish excitement, but Korra sees nothing of Aang in the girl's tone. She's to wild. Energy sparks off her fingertips when she dances back, sliding her boots through the snow.
Still, Katara can't help but smile. "Hello, Korra."
When the members of the White Lotus had told her that they were certain this girl was the next Avatar, she hadn't known how to react. Part of her is glad that Aang's spirit is reborn so close to her-but of course they'd known all along the next Avatar was going to be a waterbender-it had been one of Aang's last requests to her, to help whoever the next reincarnation was.
"Please," He'd begged her, "keep them safe."
This girl has certainly been safer than most, raised on the isolated ice land of the Southern Water tribe's village. But being discovered as the Avatar so young-it was bound to have consequences.
"Katara! Katara!" Korra is chanting her name now, spinning through the snow with the grace of a dancer. If Katara looks closely she can see a hint of an airbending stance in her flowing movements. Or maybe her eyes are playing tricks on her.
Watching the girl laugh before her triggers a memory of Aang and Kya. Katara knows her children have always felt that her husband favored Tenzin, but the truth was that Aang had loved them all.
"Daddy!" In her mind, Kya sounds like Korra. She runs to her father's open arms and splashes water on his beard.
Aang's laugh fills her, and he kisses Kya's forehead. "Yes, my little waterbender?"
"Daddy, can we fly on Appa tonight? Please? Please?"
Aang had looked at her, smiling with just the corner of his mouth, eyes bright and twinkling and carefree, and Katara remembers thinking that in that moment she'd fallen in love with him all over again.
Her throat aches at the memory, and when she blinks a tear slips down her cheek.
""Katara?" Korra reaches for her hand, tiny mitten-clad fingers curling against hers. "Are you okay?"
"Fine, Korra," the waterbender kneels down so her and the girl are level. "Was there something you wanted to ask me?"
Korra's expression lights up. "Will you go penguin sledding with me?"
Katara's heart stops. She swallows everything she wants to say and blinks back the burning in her eyes. Korra is looking at her with eyes so big and blue and full of childish hope and wonder, so large in her tiny face.
Oh, Aang, there you are.
"Of course I will," She manages to say, and as the girl squeals with delight and runs off, Katara wipes away a tear.
"Welcome back, Aang."