A/N: Fic #2 for the Purimgifts event.
Legacy
When Katara saw her father for the first time in three long, long years, the tears that burst out did so with such force that her face hurt. She threw herself into her father's arms vigorously. He had to let go with one in order to accept the equally violent leap that Sokka made into them. Then the trio of family members tried to crush a thousand lost moments into that one single embrace.
"I missed you two so much."
"We weren't sure we would ever see you again."
"Thank the spirits that you're okay."
"I'm okay, I'm okay. And you two!" Hakoda pulled back briefly to look at his children, wonder and joy evident on his face and in his eyes which shone with barely restrained emotion. Before he could say anything further, Katara pulled him again into a bone-breaking hug.
When they finally disentangled from one another, their father stole them away into a relatively quiet section of the camp. "I want to know everything," he said fervently. "How did you get here? How did you end up with the Avatar of all people?"
Retelling the whole story would take days and certainly they would lose details. Sokka tried regardless, spirits help him, but Katara cut him off before he got too far. "Didn't Bato tell you?" she asked.
Hakoda smiled sheepishly. "Well, sure, he gave me some details. But I wanted to hear it from the source. You know, I'm still not entirely sure that I'm content that he did it right. We may need to re-try again. To make sure that you've done it the right way, under a father's watchful eye," he said.
Katara's mouth gaped open. Sokka sputtered next to her. "You- I- We did just fine!" Sokka protested.
"Really? You needed an airbender to get through the challenge. I don't think that quite counts. Bato should have known better."
It was then that Katara recognized the curl of her father's lip that meant he was pulling their legs.
She crossed her arms and lifted an eyebrow. "You're just jealous that you didn't have such a tough crew on your own trial, aren't you?"
There was a brief moment where Sokka switched positions to call out his sister for saying such a rude thing to their father. "He's as tough as any polar dog and twice as smart. He proved himself ages ago!" That finally broke Hakoda and he belted out a deep belly laugh. Sokka's cries cut off as it finally clicked that they were all just messing with one another and he was the last to realize. He slapped his forehead with one hand.
Hakoda clapped his son on the back. He said as one final tease, "Now I'm starting to wonder if you really did deserve the Mark of the Wise."