A/N: Hello all, after four weeks of long, eventful chapters, here's a shorter, quieter one more reminiscent of the earlier, one-off installments.
Thank you to Raider, AsahixMe, Sharpe, IrishDreamer4, Lightbrightfury, Black Dragon Master, StevenBodner, Guest, FireLordAziz, and devilfiredog18 for reviews! Thank you for all the well wishes and congratulations too!
Time check: Early summer, 177 AG (2 years and 10 months post-Book 4)
61. Heaven above, are you witnessing?
He is there when Katara meets her grown nephew for the first time.
He'd been caught a bit off-guard by Haruko's request that he be present when he meets Katara. He hardly knows the venerated waterbender himself, but Haruko seems to believe their interaction might be smoothed by his presence. Sokka's long-lost son has already met Tenzin and Bumi — his cousins — on Air Temple Island and had a brief meeting with Izumi and Kairo when the two royals accompanied Iroh back to Republic City — but he seems particularly nervous about meeting his aunt.
Zoya is equally as jittery, buzzing with excitement beside her father. Ikki, who has taken quite a liking to her new cousin, pats her shoulder comfortingly. Misazi, as always, remains composed, standing with the rest of Tenzin's family.
By some unspoken signal, the little gathering in the dining room rise when Bumi escorts Katara in. The aged waterbender walks slowly, but steadily. He notices that she uses a cane now, but is glad that it seems to be only for balance and not for any need of actual support. Kya follows behind her mother and brother; she meets his eyes briefly before fixing firmly on the man they have come to see.
He hears Haruko's audible intake of breath as Katara meets his eyes. She calls his name tentatively, as if she is testing it — and Haruko responds equally hesitantly, the absent address of Aunt hovering awkwardly in the air between them.
Despite this, Katara gasps, her eyes filling with tears and her hand going to her mouth.
You sound like Sokka, she tells him.
Haruko cannot say anything about the father he never knew, so instead he introduces his daughter. Katara smiles through her tears at Zoya.
You have Suki's face, she tells her.
Zoya tucks her hair self-consciously behind her ear and glances at her mother. Misazi dips into a bow, bending low out of reverence for Katara not just as a Master, but also as her husband's elder.
Kya's approach is different. She stands in front of Haruko and looks him up and down. Her eyes glitter with emotion but her voice is light. Hey, squirt.
And some part of Haruko must remember that that was how nine-year-old Kya used to talk to him, because he bursts out laughing.
Katara's eyes crease in both pain and mirth, and he can only assume that Haruko has inherited Sokka's laugh too.
Tenzin invites his extended family to sit at the table, where the air acolytes have already laid out the evening meal. He takes that as his cue to leave, not wishing to intrude on the family reunion (all he's done is stand there and watch, anyway).
He stops to pay his respects to Katara on the way out. Katara asks after Korra and he assures her that Korra is fine.
Just then the noise level ratchets up dramatically because Meelo has stolen a dumpling from Rohan's plate and Rohan retaliated with airbending. Puma scolds Meelo. Zoya artfully steals Rohan's dumpling back for him, while Haruko claps the youngster on the back and whispers conspiratorially about 'better ways to gain revenge'.
Katara stands watching the spectacle, and a fond smile graces her face. He wonders how much of her brother and old friends she sees in the new generation.
When Katara turns back to him, she says Thank you.
A/N: Song is 'Witness' by Aaron Percy. Mako, of course, is witnessing this reunion, but perhaps in the back of his mind he can't help wondering whether some higher power is also seeing the result of fates that could have been different. This reunion wouldn't have had to happen if Haruko had grown up with Sokka and Suki, and we already know Mako is still hurting from the loss of his parents. There is both joy and sadness here, irrevocably intertwined, and Mako stands witness to that for both the Gaang's family and his own.