AN: Thanks once again to PhieillyDinyia for beta reading! After this I have one more document I want to publish (hopefully - but probably not - on Sunday) then I can get back to The Worst Time.

The Inevitable

When my mother died, I felt nothing. Numb. Empty. I didn't have time to grieve. I had to step up and take her place in the family. Gone were the days spent having snowball fights with Sokka. I had to take on more responsibilities, as well as being strong for the rest of my family.

I never forgot how it felt to leave the tent after my mother told me to find my dad. The fear that creeped inside me.

And then we entered the tent. At the age of 8 I was exposed to one of the most vicious sights. My mother, dead of the floor, eyes open and gazing blankly, burns all down her sides, neck at a contorted angle. A sight no 8-year-old should have ever seen.

I remembered my dad, walking towards her, occasionally glancing back at me, with horror and fear etched across his face. Fear, as I understood many years later, that was reserved for me and the terror I must've felt, seeing her mangled body like that. Then he walked over to her, bending down. I saw him, hands fidgeting with her neck.

"She always wanted it to be passed down to you, so it's yours now," he said as he passed over what became my most prized possession – her betrothal necklace.

It was when we went back to the South Pole not long after Aang and I's wedding. Aang and I arrived around afternoon, all set on visiting dad and Gran-Gran when we found out what happened.

We had already figured something had happened as soon as we walking into the tribe. The sombre mood wasn't easy to ignore.

Aang and I walked over to dad's house. When we walked in, we could feel the mournfulness in the air. It was thick and overwhelming. I looked around and noticed that someone was missing.

"Where's Pakku?"

As soon as I had mentioned his name, I saw Gran-Gran, already having a tear-streaked face, begin to cry. I looked at my dad with a question bearing my face, and all he did in response was shake his head.

It didn't take me long to figure out what had happened. I went and gave Gran-Gran a hug whilst Aang gave our condolences.

That night, Aang and I decided to prolong our trip and we both grieved for one of the best waterbending masters and an irreplaceable member of our family.

It was five years later when we got the hawk.

I think Aang got Bumi ready to travel.

I think Aang packed our stuff.

I think Aang went to get Sokka before we left.

I know everything was a haze for the weeks after the hawk came.

We arrived at the Southern Water Tribe about three days later. Sokka and I went straight to Dad's house whilst Aang brought everything off Appa and took it to our house and took Sokka's items to his house, with Bumi in one arm.

When we got to the tribe, I fell into a repetitive routine. Be strong for dad and Sokka. Prepare the food. Plan the funeral. Be there. However, at night, when it was just Aang and I, I could fall apart. I could cry. I could lean on my husband. I didn't have to be the strong one.

None of it felt real, though. Not until we went to her funeral. Not until we had to say goodbye to a great woman called Kanna to the world, but called Gran-Gran to her friends and family.

Gran-Gran was buried at her rightful place next to Pakku.

Next to go was dad.

Sokka was already in the Southern Water Tribe. He stepped up as chief after dad retired.

Once again, we had to travel to the South Pole for the funeral. Only difference was that Bumi, Kya and Tenzin knew why we were travelling.

Once again, I fell into a repetitive routine. Be strong for Sokka. Be strong for Bumi, Kya and Tenzin. Be strong for the tribe. Prepare the food. Plan the funeral. Be there. However, at night, when it was just Aang and I, I could fall apart. I could cry. I could lean on my husband. I didn't have to be the strong one.

Dad was buried between Mom and Gran-Gran.

Many nights after the funeral were spent in our house. It often felt like the whole tribe came over, but in reality, it was only family and friends. We would all talk into the night. We would share all types of stories about dad. Some funny. Some sad. Then one of the kids would pass out from exhaustion, so Aang, Sokka or I would carry them to their bed, and the other two children would follow suit and go to bed. Then the rest of us would be quieter until it was just Aang and I in our home and went to bed.

No. Not again.

That was the first thought after seeing him.

Desperately, I tried to get as much water I could get to heal him.

But it wouldn't - couldn't - work.

Avatar Aang was dead.

Sokka, Suki, Bumi, Kya, Tenzin, Zuko, Mai, Izumi, Iroh, Toph, Lin and Suyin came with me to the Southern Air Temple to give Aang a proper air nomad burial.

With Tenzin's help, we moved him to the top of the temple, where Aang would often meditate when we visited.

We placed Aang down, as if we were putting him to bed. Only there were no bedsheets, no mattress, no bedframe. Just stone.

We returned to that spot a week later, when only bones were left. We ground them up into dust and used them to bake bread and fed the bread to the birds.

I decided to move to the Southern Water Tribe. Air Temple Island just had too many memories. Memories that can never happen again. Kya decided to come with me. Bumi took a bit more time off before eventually going back to the United Forces. Tenzin stayed for a bit, but eventually had to go back to Republic City because he was needed at the council.

Sokka insisted that I stayed with him and Suki. At first, I told him that I wanted space within my own home. But that home was Aang's as well. So, I took Sokka up. But after a few months of guilt that I was abandoning Aang, I decided to move out, back to my house.

A few years later, White Lotus centuries came to the tribe.

And the day following their arrival, they announced (to the tribe) Avatar Korra.

And last, but not least, was Sokka.

He went at some point in the night.

I just remember Suki hammering our door down, calling out for me and Kya. Praying that there was something we could do. But we were too late. Sokka was gone.

This time, I didn't have to travel to the South Pole as I was already there. But somehow that was worse.

Kya sent out the letters.

A few days later, Tenzin, Pema, Jinora, Bumi, Toph, Lin, Suyin, Zuko, Mai, Izumi and Iroh came to the funeral. They were all I had now.

Kya planned the funeral, instead of me for once.

This time, I didn't have to be strong both day and night. Kya was there to be strong. Only, when I used to lean on Aang at night, Kya had her brothers to lean on. However, sometimes I would catch her crying in her room, and that was when I would be strong for her.

Sokka was buried across from mom and dad.

The next chief was a man called Amaruq.

The night was spent more or less exactly like how the nights passed after dad's funeral. Except Jinora was already asleep.

Now, realising I will see those I still love who had unwillingly left me after all these years, I'm not scared of what will come next.

And after taking one last look at my loved ones who were alive and around me, I closed my eyes.

When I next opened my eyes, it took them a minute to adjust. The brightness was overwhelming, especially after the weeks I had spent in the bed in my bedroom in the South Pole.

I stood up, noticing how easier it was. I looked at my hands. No wrinkles.

Then I heard a voice behind me.

"Katara?"

I turned around, tears streaming down my face as I recognised the voice. A voice I missed for nearly forty years.

"Aang?"