Hi, I know I'm late again, but it's still the twenty first in some parts of the world. Just not where I am...
I do not own Avatar The Last Airbender nor The Legend of Korra.
Day 21: Aurora Borealis
"This festival was even better than the one last year," Zuko says with his thoughtful voice.
Katara smiles, knowing he thought about the improvements very carefully before even saying this. She raises an eyebrow at him. "Well, I don't know. There weren't many differences."
The snow scrunches under her feet, as they make their way back downtown, where Katara's house is.
"It was always warm and comfortable," Zuko muses. "Simple. But this year there was way more."
Katara scoffs. "Just to impress these Northerners. I don't understand why this was necessary. We're not like the North, and we shouldn't be."
Memories about a time when there had been strong tensions between the sister tribes surfaced. That all had started with the South becoming like the North, too, but it was even worse when the South wanted the North to like them. Katara is already in an age in which she doesn't care at all what other people and certainly some stuck up idiots on the other side of the world think about her tribe. She is proud about being born in the South. She had always hated all this royalty fuss.
She briefly gets a bad conscience, considering who's accompanying her, but Zuko always ruled differently. Royalty in the Fire Nation is different.
"I think the North is still not okay with you being independent," Zuko says, and Katara takes a deep breath. He's probably right. After ruling a nation for almost sixty years he has to know this stuff, after all.
"Well, I think we could be even more independent," she replies stubbornly and crosses her arms in front of her chest.
Zuko chuckles and briefly lays a hand on her shoulder.
She smiles and leans into the touch.
Katara doesn't have a lot more joys these days other than her children, grandchildren and teaching. She has friends, but they were never as close as she was with Toph, Suki, Zuko, or even Aang before they got together. And knowing this deep, loyal, and trusting friendship almost pushed down all the others.
She hasn't seen Toph in years, probably almost ten years now. Toph visited her twice, after Aang died, but Katara isn't mad at her for that. This is just how Toph is.
Suki suffers from a strong mental illness, forgetting everything and everyone. She lives in a hospital, since Sokka died.
Zuko is the only one from back then who Katara still meets. He often visited, when Aang was still alive, and after Aang died, the visits became more frequent. They were the people closest to Aang, and spending time together helped them to get over the loss of their best friend and husband.
Now, Zuko became Katara's dearest friend, and she doesn't know what she would do without him.
"Regardless, I liked the festival," the former Fire Lord states with a nod. "Thank you for inviting me."
Katara laughs. "I'm still very surprised you even came. I didn't think you would leave your hot summer in the Fire Nation to come to the South Pole during the coldest and darkest time!"
"I also came last year!" he objects. "I'm not scared like this by cold and darkness, Katara. I still have my fire breath." To demonstrate, he breathes fire out of his mouth and nostrils.
Katara rolls her eyes. "Show off." She pushes him slightly, and lets out a surprised yelp, when he pushes back.
"Hey, my bones are not what they used to be!" she complains.
Zuko gives her a deadpan look. "Mine wouldn't either, if I spent my last years in a place, where ice doesn't melt."
Her lips twitch, as something catches her eye. Confused, she looks up at the sky.
She thought she would just see stars, but what she can see now is unlike anything she has ever seen in her whole life.
Colourful lights move across the sky. Green, yellow, pink and violet waves obscure the sky and lighten the night.
Zuko settles in a fighting stance, his fire daggers ready.
Katara gives him a quizzical look. "What are you doing?"
"What is that?" he gives back. "It could be something evil from space, wanting to harm us."
With age, he got a bit weirder, reminding her a lot of his uncle or even King Bumi sometimes.
"No," she says softly with a smile and lays a hand on his arm. His fire daggers extinguish immediately.
"Those are the spirits dancing in the sky. They haven't done this for hundreds of years. It's a very old legend. This means, Korra opened the spirit portal."