Oma and Shu were the first Earthbenders…but there was one thing that the legend left out.

Pairing(s): Oma/Wan, past Oma/Shu

Note(s): Thank you for the favs and follows! I know my updates are very erratic but I really want to have a satisfying conclusion to this. Also a special thanks to Disneyfan259 for reviewing; I really appreciate it.

Also, I changed this from Legend of Korra to a crossover with The Last Airbender since Wan's origin and Omashu's origin came from two shows stemming in the same universe; I hope there's no confusion.


~hanasalang~


The ceremony was beautiful.

Newly grown firecherry roots sprouted amongst a field of wild grasses and dandelions at the cave's opening.

Oma led the procession of villagers into the tunnels, with Wan at her flank bridging the distance between the humans and the few spirits that were able to attend in their diminutive forms. After almost an hour of walking though the cave with brightly lit blue Qi crystals guiding the way through the labyrinth, they arrived in the mausoleum, once known as their meeting place. A decorated statue of a man and a woman interlocking lips stood towering over anyone who entered; the local children drew pictures on the walls so that no one forgot their story.

Oma bent down on both knees and led the prayer as both villages kneeled behind her, the Liong elder on her left, and the Dongki elder on her right. It was the first time that both villages had gathered in one space without fighting or animosity. Shu's coffin was lowered into the ground and bended shut by Oma. When the prayer ended, tears ran down Oma's face, but the children took the flowers they had gathered upon going into the cave and braided her long, black hair with yellow and blue dandelions.

Wan spoke with the elders as Oma smiled with the children, watching from a distance. She wasn't aware if it was the fact that he was becoming known as the human who travelled with the great light spirit Ravva, or his natural penchant to inspire with his charisma, but when he spoke, people listened. She kept quiet as the girls finished entwining flowers into her fishtail braid, smiling periodically.

"Momma Oma, is Shu with the spirits now?" A six year old, Hana, asked, as she looped a dandelion into another tendril of onyx hair.

"I'm sure he is," she says with a smile. "He always did say he would join them when he returned to the Earth."

A little boy taps her on the shoulder. "Can you teach me to Earthbend, momma Oma?"

"You should ask the badgermoles since they taught momma Oma."

Oma looks up and Wan is there with a grin that seemed to try to hard not to be a grin. Oma looks at the boy, "I would have to agree with Wan, the badgermoles are the best teachers."

"And the Lion Turtles are very merciful," Wan nods sagely.

"You would know," Oma remarks with a smirk.

Gloriously, Wan laughs, the booming sound echoing in the tunnels. "Yeah, I guess I would," He says with a twinkle in his eye, and then leads the children away to Mula to take turns for rides.

It's when she's alone that she realizes the grief gripping her heart.

Fluttering like a dragonfly in the distance, Raava glides through the air, away from her new home in the teapot she was kept in. Oma is so mesmerized by this that she doesn't realize that the spirit of light has neared her until she is right in front of her. Oma blinks back tears as the great spirit sighs.

"You mustn't allow darkness to hover so closely to your heart." Oma averts her gaze in shame. "Vaatu can possess you again at any time if you continue down this path," Raava breathes, gently but firm.

"What do I do?" Oma whispers. Surely with his travels, Wan couldn't be expected to stay and distract her forever. Harmonic Convergence was months away, and she had a village to look after, lest the spirit of darkness invade as he did before. The thought of him leaving did occur to her, of course, but how many men did she have to lose before her world crumbled in chaos and terror?

"You must resist, and find balance within yourself. Overcome this sadness with patience and love before the darkness in your heart allows Vaatu to find you again."

Oma blinks in thought. Patience wasn't a virtue she was blessed with, and…"Everything I've ever loved, is gone."

"Everything?" The illuminated spirit asks, and Oma can pick up that there was more to that question.

"My family is gone. Shu is gone. There is no purpose to my being without them."

"Then regain new purpose, human Oma, and find love once again." Raava's whiplike tail lightly caresses Oma's cheek as she drifts by, and away. In the direction Raava glides away in, Oma can see Wan playing with the children in the distance, the next generation of a new united people.

Perhaps she did still have a purpose after all.


Me? Oma thinks to herself.

No one ever looked at her as anything more than a means to an end, a lowly peasant.

She shrugs. "There's nothing interesting about me."

"Of course there is; you're here, aren't you?"

Oma's eyes narrow suspiciously. "What's that supposed to mean?"

The man, Shu, smiles. It's wide, and open, and honest. The feeling of butterfly-robins in the pit of her stomach lingers and almost makes her feel uncomfortable. "I mean, the world is so big and everything in it is so interesting. You've never been beyond your village before, right?"

Oma stays quiet because no, she's never been beyond her village, not that she really thought that there was a land beyond her village, beside the Liong village that is.

"Well, the women in my village look different than what I can assume the women in your village look, just like the leaves in the trees in my village look different than how they would look in yours. Take that stick you're holding in your hand."

Frowning, Oma looks down at it. "What about it?"

Kneeling down in front of her, Shu gently holds the ends at she grips the middle. "It's interesting because it's not indigenous to my village; I can only come up here to see it. Just like you."

Her frown wrinkles her face. "So…I'm as interesting as a stick?"

Shu's tanned skin pales. "Uh, that's not what I meant. I mean-"

"I think I know what you mean," Oma stops him while he's ahead. She sees relief wash against his face. "This has all been…interesting…but I really have to go now." She gets up and dusts off her robe of the extra dirt, and he follows, much to her chagrin.

"Are you coming back?" Shu asks.

"I hadn't planned to," Oma shrugs carelessly.

Not bothered by this, Shu leans against the small, malformed tree on the plateau. "I come here almost every day."

"Good for you," Oma says with a shake of her head, preparing to descend down the mountainside with the kindling she picked up along the way.

"You should come back, too."

"No, I really shouldn't. I might meet strangers like you who like sticks for women."

His laughter stays with her the rest of the way down.


TBC…

DAC