Chapter Text
Beginnings
Katara huffed in frustration as her fingers got caught in her braid once more. Her brow furrowed in concentration as she tried to untangle it. Her mom had shown her how to braid but Katara still struggled.
“Mommy,” Katara said, giving up on untangling her hair as she ran to her mom. “Help.”
Her mom laughed softly. “Oh, Katara,” she said. “Let’s see what we can do.”
Her mom placed Katara in her lap and slowly set to work untangling Katara’s hair. Katara winced when a particularly rough knot was pulled free.
“There,” her mom said, pulling the comb softly through Katara's curls. It didn’t snag on a single tangle. Her mom set to work trying to make her own braid in Katara’s hair. The rhythmic movement lulled Katara to sleep as she munched on the snack she had been given.
Her mom pushed her head forward slightly to see better, and pulled Katara’s hair taut as she braided it.
Her mom hummed softly under her breath as she twisted Katara's hair carefully into a braid. Katara started humming along, slightly off tune as she didn’t know the song, only to stop when her mom laughed.
"Do you like that song?" Her mom asked.
Katara nodded. The song had sounded pretty and upbeat.
"It's about a brave little girl, just like you," her mom said.
"What happened to the little girl?" Katara asked.
"She saved her tribe and in doing so the world," her mom answered, trying the end of Katara's braid. She looped the two strands at the front of Katara's hair back and stood. "I fully believe you will one day too. The tribe's gift from the spirits. My greatest treasure, you and your brother both. My brave little bender and her warrior protector."
Katara smiled as her mom lifted her into her arms and carried her outside.
The village hustled around them, as people went about their day and Katara cuddled closer to her mom's warmth when the wind picked up. Her head rested in the crock of her mom’s neck as they walked.
She was finally put down next to her brother. "You two play nice together," their mom said. "Bato's right there to keep an eye on you two."
Katara and Sokka nodded as their mom walked towards the big house to resume her duties. Katara wasn’t sure what those duties were, only that her mom was vitally important.
A snowball slammed into Katara's back and she turned to fight back, knocking her brother on his rear.
The childish snowball fight soon turned into an all out battle. War had reached their doorstep and when the ash settled, Katara would never be the same again.
Adventure
“She was born here, in the Northern Tribe.”
Katara looked out over the shoreline of the Northern Water Tribe. She had learned a lot in the past few hours. Yogoda's words still echoed in her ears, looping endlessly along with her Gran Gran’s own words.
Katara had thought she had known all there was to know of her Gran Gran. Her father’s mother’s, she had stepped up at the loss of Katara’s mother. An elder to respect and the woman who held the tribe together at the loss of it’s Chief to the war front.
She was so much more than that, though.
Her Gran Gran had come from the Northern Tribe. She had risked everything to leave it and yet, she sent Katara here.
Katara had to wonder if her Gran Gran knew she wouldn't be taught or if she had hoped the tribe would have changed.
“You have a long journey ahead of you.”
The waters slammed against the shore and Katara tried to imagine a boat sailing away in such rocky conditions.
Katara had never seen someone arrive from the Northern Tribe, though she had heard stories of both official voyages, and those who snuck out in the night.
Katara wondered which her Gran Gran had been, though somehow in her heart she knew she had been the latter.
“That’s always been a mystery to me. She left without saying goodbye.”
Her Gran Gran's parting words held so much more meaning now.
After her own voyage to the North, Katara wondered how her Gran Gran's trip had gone.
Had she gotten lost like they did? Did she encounter pirates and Fire Nation soldiers? Did they, so many years apart, stop in the same port towns and villages?
Katara wanted to know. More than anything though, she wanted to ask. To sit at her Gran Gran’s feet as the story tumbled into the air around them and they shared a story of a trip so similar, yet opposite in every way.
Her Gran Gran wasn't here though and Katara wondered when she might see her again.
Her journey had taken her far, and the way back home had never seemed longer.
Gran Gran certainly had a story to tell when Katara returned home, and maybe Katara would have a story of her own. Maybe she already did.
"You both found him for a reason. Now your destinies are intertwined with his."
Katara looked out over the horizon and wondered what destiny her Gran Gran saw beyond the waves.
Fortune
Katara knew her brother didn't believe in things like fate, but Katara did.
She believed things happened for a reason and while chance occasionally had a say, ultimately she had a role to play in the world.
Aunt Wu had been an interesting woman to stumble on and Katara wanted, needed, to know everything.
Aunt Wu sighed when she opened the door, but allowed Katara in.
"I'm not telling you what to eat for breakfast again," she said.
Katara laughed sheepishly. "Sorry, I got a bit carried away," Katara said. "I just wanted to tell you we were leaving."
"Yes, I knew," Aunt Wu said.
"Really?" Katara asked, curiously. She looked down at the tea leaves. "Did you see it?"
"No, your friend is packing up that bison of his," Aunt Wu said.
Katara looked down in embarrassment. That did make more sense.
Aunt Wu sighed again.
"Fate is a strange thing," Aunt Wu said. "Seeing it, reading it, is even stranger. Take it from someone who's seen most everything. Fate is both something we are led by and yet something we lead. Fate takes you on a journey, what you do at the crossroads it brings you to, is up to you. You are a strong girl, a smart girl, but you worry too much about the road ahead. I will give you one last reading, Katara."
"Really?" Katara asked. She didn't want to admit that's what she had come for.
Aunt Wu nodded and grabbed Katara's hand. She didn't flip it over to read her palm though. Instead she squeezed it gently.
"Inside you is a power you do not know, and may never understand but it is a power that can move nations," Aunt Wu said. "I have complete faith you'll wield it well. Your future is bright, Katara, because you will make it so. Now, it's best you get started."
Katara nodded, not fully understanding what the fortune teller told her, but taking the words to heart.
Katara bowed to the older woman.
"Thank you," Katara said. "For everything."
Aunt Wu bowed back. "Thank you," Aunt Wu said, smirking slightly as she stood back up. "I've never had better reviews than from you. Go live Katara and don't worry so much about what's to come. You'll meet it well."
Katara stepped from Aunt Wu's shop and took in the huge crescents from where Aang had stopped the lava.
"I can see that he’s a very powerful bender."
Katara stepped from the porch towards Appa.
“You will have your third great-grandchild before quietly passing away in your sleep.”
Aang gave her a hand up, smiling brightly as she settled near him.
Katara looked back one last time as they moved North once more.
Tragedy
It had been a dream come true, slowly corrupted into a nightmare.
As a small girl, Katara had longed for the wisdom of a teacher. Gaining training in the North was one thing, but Katara always knew in the back of her mind, it would never be the same as what she lost.
An entire style of bending had been lost, one created from centuries of journeying across the world. Katara would never regain it. Learning from Master Pakku would be the closest she would ever come.
Then she met Hama.
Her story was familiar. One passed between generations of the tribe as each felt the punishment of war just as harshly as the last.
“I was stolen from my home.”
Katara had known others like her had been taken, but to know now what would have happened to her, what had happened to the others, was both a blessing and a curse. To know Hama and her were the only ones left was somehow harder than being the only one left at all. They had existed, they had been real, and now they were gone.
“I’d like to teach you what I know, so you can carry on the Southern tradition when I’m gone.”
No words had lit the fires of Katara's heart more fiercely and she had been determined to learn everything. She hoped she might have more time after the war, but just in case she threw herself into Hama's teachings, hoping to memorize everything in case she never got to see it again.
Their next stop would be the cliffs for the invasion and Katara had every intention of helping Hama return to their tribe. She was hopeful she would come with them.
Intentions never seemed to matter much during war.
“Once you perfect this technique, you can control anything or anyone.”
How everything went wrong so quickly, Katara would never really understand. Though she supposed it hadn't been that quick, she just lived on the tail end of a hundred years of hurts and tragedy.
Years later Katara would still have dreams and nightmares in equal measure about those so few days. As the Southern Tribe re-grew around her in a new image, she would always wonder, of what Hama taught her, which was the heritage and which was the trauma.
“You must carry on my work!”
Katara would wonder, if maybe it had always been a bit of both.
Change
Katara slid into the next movement of her katas. She got low to the ground and spun, sliding her foot through the snow. The snow followed the movement slightly, though Katara wasn't really trying to move it.
She stood up right as she ended and startled at the realization she was being watched.
"Sorry," Malina said, "I did not mean to interrupt you."
"It's fine," Katara said, though she wasn't sure how much she meant that. She was still getting used to the other woman being around and thoughts of her mother had become more frequent since Katara had discovered her father's new relationship.
"Were those fighting stances?" Malina asked.
"Yes," Katara replied. "The basics anyway."
"Oh," Malina said. "I've never really been able to see them. I left the tribe before women were taught to fight and haven't had the chance to learn. What I know, I pieced together myself. Though my dad did teach me how to use waterbending for architecture."
"I thought women were only allowed to learn healing," Katara said. This was the first she had heard of waterbending being used for architecture, but she supposed it made sense.
"Since when has men telling women no, ever stopped us?" Malina asked. "My dad taught me in secret. My family left the Northern Tribe after his death so that I'd have more freedom to practice. Still, fighting was never something I learned."
She smiled over at Katara and Katara fought to keep a responding smile off her face.
"I guess that makes sense," Katara said. "Gran Gran ran away, I guess other rebellions are expected."
"Very much so," Malina agreed.
The two fell into a silence. Katara turned back towards the space she had been training in, figuring the conversation was over.
Katara still had her issues with drawn out conversation when it came to Malina.
"Would you be willing to teach me?" Malina asked. "It's just a useful skill to have. I could teach you architecture in return."
Malina smiled brightly. "You could even help me build at that point," she said.
"Why do you want to know how to fight?" Katara asked, suspicion rising.
Malina's smile faded. "Don't tell your dad," she started, not reassuring Katara in the slightest, "but, I want to be able to protect him should another countermovement happen. I know he's capable but I still want to help."
Katara looked up at the other woman in contemplation. As much as the idea still sometimes sat wrong with her, Katara knew Malina loved her dad.
"Deal," Katara said, reaching for Malina's hand. She was surprised by a hug instead, though she relaxed into it when she realized what was happening.
Katara hugged the older woman back.
Malina would never be Katara's mother, but that didn't mean she couldn't be family.