Revealed

Sokka stopped in his tracks. For a second he thought he'd seen his mother in the crowd. He wiped his eyes and took a second look, but she was gone.

.~.

The young woman made her way back through the group. Kimi had come along with a group of about fifty other students and five faculty from the new Kanna University of the South Pole. The twenty year old had never been outside of the Southern water Tribe before, and now she was in this huge city. She waded her way back to the middle of the crowd, back to her mother, Shima.

"I saw him Mom," she spoke softly to her mother, grabbing her hand, "I saw Sokka. I think he saw me too."

Shima smiled at her daughter's enthusiasm, "I'm glade you've seen him, are you happy?"

"Yes." her daughter said, placing a light squeeze on her mother's hand.

"Are you satisfied now?" the mother asked in a more serious tone.

The girl held her head down, "Yes, I am."

Kimi lied, she was not satisfied. She'd grown up with stories of Sokka and Katara of the Southern Water Tribe. The brave ones who, in their early teens, rescued the Avatar from the iceberg and helped to end a hundred year old war. Now, finally, she was in the same place as Councilman Sokka, son of the Chief, warrior, master swordsman, inventor, friend to the Avatar. How could she be satisfied with only seeing him? She wanted to talk to him, touch his hand to feel that he was real. She wanted him to smile at her and hold her in his arms like she used to dream about when she was a little girl. After all, he was her father.

.~.

Sokka, with his older nephew by his side, went to greet the group from the collage that was named in his grandmother's honor. He shook some hands and stopped to talk to Maska. The man had once been one of Sokka's Warriors-in-training, now he was the head of the Politics department at Kanna University.

The men grabbed each other's forearms, said, "Show no fear." then fell into laughter.

.~.

Kimi angled her neck to try and see around the crowd, trying to get another glimpse of Sokka. She saw him, and a boy who looked a lot like him at his side, "Mom," she whispered, "is that his son? Do I have a brother?"

Shima watched what appeared to be Sokka introducing the boy to Maska, and Maska giving the boy a warrior's hand shake. "I suppose so." the woman said, feeling a slight tug at her heart.

.~.

Shima had met Sokka late one night in a bar when she was twenty two. She'd spent an hour watching the man's head tilt with gusto as he downed one drink after another. She didn't know who he was, but she felt bad for him. It was obvious that he was trying to drown his sorrows. She told her friends to wait while she went and sat next to the man who was all alone at the bar. "So, what's her name?" she'd asked as she sat on the stool next to him.

The drunk man kept his face buried in her arms as he tapped his glass on the bar for a refill, "What does it matter?" he'd slurred, "You're one of them, a woman. You're all traitors. The only ones who never betrayed me was my mom and Gran Gran."

Shima tried to see the man, but all she could see dark brown hair with a large brown skinned hand clasped over his head. "I have a Gran Gran too, you must be Water Tribe."

"Yeah, so?"

"Just saying." she answered, "So, who betrayed you? You must've loved them very much."

"Yeah, I loved her," he said, lifting his head to empty his newly refilled drink, "loved him too. He was supposed to be my friend." he looked at her with drooping eyes.

"So your girl left you for your friend. That's messed up."

"Yeah, they say they didn't get together till way after we broke up, but I'm not stupid."

"I'm sure you're not." she said.

"No, I am NOT." he said a little too loud, "Shhhh." he looked around, "You know what else?"

"What?"

"Them bitches is getting married right now." he pounded his finger on the bar to emphasize his point.

"That's really messed up."

"That's not all, my sister, my own flesh and blood sister went to the wedding. Her and my brother-in-law and my other friend. They went all the way to the Fire Nation to see them bitches get married."

"After she did that to you? That's so wrong."

"Ohhh, nooo. She says that they are telling the truth and they didn't get together till after, but I don't believe that. Them bitches were together all along. I just know it."

The young woman stayed with the man long after her friends left. She listened to his drunken rants about 'them bitches' and no good family and friends. Eventually she got him to leave the bar, but by then he was so drunk he couldn't coherently tell her where he lived, so Shima took him to her apartment.

Her roommate chided her for bringing a strange drunk man to their apartment in the middle of the night, but Shima just said, "Aw, he's harmless. He's lonely and his friends have abandoned him. Just let him sleep it off on the couch."

The roommate agreed as long as he stayed on the couch, which he did until the next day. When he woke up, he thanked Shima for her kindness and she finally learned his name. Afraid he'd made a bad impression, he invited Shima and her roommate to his house for a Southern Water Tribe meal. They both accepted, but after Sokka left Shima convinced her friend to let her be alone with the handsome, heartbroken tribesman who had spent the day recovering on their couch.

That evening Shima and Sokka had a coherent talk about how love had failed them both and how it wasn't worth the time or the effort. Eventually their conversation dissolved into them being nude and entangled in each other's arms. The next morning the two of them decided that they could help each other satisfy their physical needs without the complications of a relationship. Whenever one wanted to see the other they would send a picture of a tiger seal and the two would meet at Sokka's house late that night.

This went on for about a year until one day, without warning, Shima said that she was going back to the Southern Water Tribe. She told Sokka it was because more of her family was migrating from the Northern Water Tribe and she needed to go back and help her mother, but that was only partially true. Yes, more of her family was migrating, but they didn't need her help.

She felt that she couldn't tell Sokka the truth, than she had fallen in love with him. She loved the way he thought, spoke and moved. She loved the ideas he had and how absolutely beautiful he was, even though he seemed not to know it. She loved the way he moved and how he knew exactly how to touch her. Shima wanted to tell Sokka all of this, but she couldn't. How could she when she made such a big deal of making sure that he understood that what they had was purely sexual and nothing more. She couldn't tell him that she'd fallen in love with him, and she definitely couldn't tell him that she had just discovered that she was pregnant.

So she spent one last night with him. Shima said it was for old times' sake, but she really just wanted to be with the one she loved one more time. She would leave the next morning and then shift all the love for him to his baby that she was carrying, but, until then, she made the most of the moment.

.~.

Now she stood here, over twenty years later. Her daughter, no, their daughter by her side, and a boy who seemed to be his son by his. 'Is that his son?' she wondered 'he has to be. Look at him. I wonder what his wife looks like, and how many other children they have. That young man sure is as charming as Sokka, just look at him, surrounded by all those older girls, and they're completely enthralled with him. Just like Sokka. I won-'

Her thoughts were cut off by a commotion in the back of the room. She turned and heard people saying, "Hello Avatar Aang," and "It's nice to meet you Avatar Aang."

.~.

Aang came through the room, smiling and shaking hands with the crowd as he was followed closely by a blue-eyed young man who looked just like him. "Look Mom," Kimi whispered, "They're air benders. The only two in the world, and one's my cousin."

"Shhhh child, calm down."

Shima watched. When Aang got close the young man who was with Sokka, he turned, "Hey Dad, hey Tenzy." the boy said as he turned and went to his father.

"Oh, that's the Avatar's son," the young woman said, "maybe I don't have a brother."

As Aang and the boys made their way through the crowd Kimi stepped forward to get a chance to shake his hand. Her mother grabbed her wrist to stop her, she turned, "Mom, come on, it's the Avatar. I'll probably never get to meet him again." Her mother released her hand.

.~.

Sokka looked up from his conversation with Maska, there she was again. 'Mom?' he thought 'No, I must be losing my mind.' he closed his eyes and opened them again. The woman was still there. 'I'm going crazy. Am I seeing a ghost. No, it can't be. She's headed straight for Aang and the boys. She's shaking his hand.' He started to make his way to his brother-in-law to get a better look at the person, or maybe it was a phantasm. After all, Aang was the bridge to the spirit world.

.~.

"You look like somebody," Bumi said to the newest young woman to shake his father's hand, "did I meet you before?"

Tenzin rolled his eyes, "Really Bumi, must you flirt with every girl you meet?"

Aang suppressed a giggle. Bumi said, "It's not like that, Tenzy. I met a lot of new people last year when Grandpa took us ice dodging." he turned back to the young woman, "It was me, my sister and our two fire bender friends. You must have been at the party after."

The young woman smiled, "No, I'm not much of a partier." then she felt her mother grab her hand again.

Shima saw when Sokka started heading that way so she made a bee line to her daughter. She grabbed her hand, "Kimi, Kiki was looking for you." she said nodding her head to the side as a signal to her child to leave. "It's nice to meet you again Avatar Aang, it's been a long time."

.~.

Sokka turned away for two seconds and when he looked again she was gone. Now there was another familiar face shaking Aang's hand, Shima. He hadn't seen her in over twenty years. They'd had a sexual relationship, then one day she said she was leaving, the next day she was gone.

"Hey buddy," he said as he reached Aang, then he turned to the woman, "Shima, it's been a long time. You look nice."

"So do you." she answered, "I was just about to tell the Avatar how much his sons look like the two of you. That's probably what the two of you looked like when you were on your adventures."

Aang smiled, "My wife says the same thing. She says it's almost spooky."

Bumi smiled, "I don't look like Uncle Sokka, I'm more handsome. He doesn't have these smoking' hot eyes. Now if you'll excuse me, I think some ladies are calling my name."

"Oh no you don't," the Avatar said, grabbing his son by the collar, "it's time to get started. Let's take our seats."

.~.

After the meeting and talking to the visitors from the college, Sokka headed to his office. As he rounded the corner he saw someone, a woman, standing a few doors down from his office. As he got closer he saw that it was her, the apparition. He wondered why this image of his mother was following him, and why was it happening now.

He got closer still, this wasn't his mother's ghost, it was a young woman who looked a lot like her. So much like her that it was scary. He remembered sitting on a cliff years ago and telling Toph that he didn't remember what his mother looked like, but seeing the young woman brought it all back to him.

"Hello," he said, stopping a few feet from her, "Are you lost? I see you've been separated from your group."

"Councilman Sokka. No, I'm not lost. I snuck away from the group because," Kimi paused. She'd been brave while she was waiting, but now her nerve was leaving her, "Because I wanted to talk to you alone, in private I mean."

The warrior started to worry about the young woman, she seemed nervous. "Sure. Is everything okay? Do you need my help with something?'

"No… no, I just-…" she felt her resolve breaking so she rounded her shoulders and took a deep breath. All at once she blurted out, "My name is Kimi, I'm twenty years old and my mother's name is Shima." she say Sokka's eyes stretch wide, she slowed down and held her head down, "and you-" she looked up at him with tears in her eyes, "you are my father."

Yes, I know I'm late. I'm sorry, it's just been a really busy month at work and at home.

So here they are, Shima and Kimi. I hope you like them, they may be around for a while. I haven't really decided their whole story yet. This OC thing is harder than I thought it would be.

Maska means "strong"

Shima is Navajo for "mother"

Kimi is Alganquin for "secret"