The First Betrothal
By: Iroh's Tea Shoppe Girls
Disclaimer: The Water Tribe gets no love. We don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender.
"Why is the moon so big and white?" a little boy asked his grandmother.
The grandmother chuckled knowingly. Apparently the children's parents had neglected to tell him about the true nature of the moon. "That's not the moon spirit that you see in the sky, that's the moon spirit's stone."
"But, that is the moon," the child protested, looking confused.
"The moon is a spirit," the old woman explained. "It has an essence that can't be seen by human eyes. Do you know how gave the moon that rock?"
"No," the little boy admitted.
"Long ago, when the Great Spirits had first come to the world, there were two who were in love," the grandmother began. "The Ocean spirit and the Moon spirit. They were in love, and wanted to get married. To set an example for us, the Ocean gave the Moon a symbol of his commitment to her."
"Like the necklace Hanh gave Princess Yue?" the child asked.
"Yes," the grandmother replied. "That is why it is tradition for our young men to give carved stone jewelry to their fiancée."
"Okay," the little boy said, getting bored with all of the talk of romance. "Wait, if Spirits don't have bodies, why is the Ocean water?"
The old woman chuckled softly. She had much to teach her young grandson. "That's a story for another day."