Avatar The Last Airbender Fan Fiction ❯ Duty Versus Love ❯ The Search ( Chapter 50 )
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: Light-Eco-Sage 
Avatar is owned by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, not me!
Non Anime: Avatar The Last Airbender Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Hentai / Fantasy / Martial Arts / Romance / Supernatural / Angst | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 02.02.2013 | Pages: 2 | Words: 2.6K | Visits: 355 | Status: Work In Progress
Avatar is owned by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, not me!
Non Anime: Avatar The Last Airbender Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Hentai / Fantasy / Martial Arts / Romance / Supernatural / Angst | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 02.02.2013 | Pages: 2 | Words: 2.6K | Visits: 355 | Status: Work In Progress
LES: I believe that I’ve given you guys adequate preparation. This chapter takes place 34 years later. And, if you added everything up right, then you know that this is “Korra” era and that Aang is dead. But don’t worry; he’s kicking it in the Spirit World, being the totally awesome guy we all know and love. It’s been three years since his death.
Chapter L: The Search
Anil shivered as he pulled his robes tighter around his body, even though the South Pole was his mother’s birthplace, he had never really gotten used to the year-round freezing cold. Sure, it got cold at the Southern Air Temple in the winter, but at least they had a summer that got above freezing.
Thinking back on the last three years, it had definitely been hard. To the shock of everyone in the world, three years ago, his father had contracted a wasting illness that had affected him for weeks before finally taking his life.
Katara had done everything that she could, but had been unable to stop or slow the progression of the disease as it slowly sapped her husband’s energy. There was only one explanation for her inability to heal him… that it really was his time to go, and the Spirit World was calling to him.
For the first time since they had split up upon their coming of age, all of Aang’s children had gathered at the Southern Air Temple, most of them bringing along grandchildren, and were by their father’s side for the last days of his life. He had passed into the Spirit World quietly, and he promised without pain, with his wife sitting next to him and surrounded by his family.
After that, it had been a very hard time for Anil. Not only was he grieving for a father that he loved dearly, but as the oldest and the leader of a family and a nation, it was his responsibility to make sure that things continued as they were, and that the Air Nomad’s world did not stop.
He drew strength from the knowledge that his father was just waiting in the Spirit World, finally reunited with those he had loved and lost, and that he was waiting for his family to join him there.
It was harder to watch his mother. She carried on with life, because she knew her husband well enough to know that he wouldn’t want her to give up life, but Anil could tell that she was mostly going through the motions of life, awaiting the day when the Spirit World called for her as well and she could rejoin her husband. She dealt with her husband’s death the best way that anyone could… by devoting herself completely to spoiling her grandchild rotten.
As was to be expected, Sho and Toshi had, by far, the most children out of any of Aang’s children. They not only had the six children from their first round of the plan, but they eventually decided to have even more children. Sho had a dozen children and Toshi had ten, because the second time two of the women failed to get pregnant. But that didn’t mean the others were lazy in having their own children.
Anil smiled fondly at the child that he held cradled in against his chest. Even though the boy was ten years old, Anil permitted him to cuddle against him because of the cold. They both benefited from the warmth they provided each other.
All of Anil’s siblings had fallen in love and gotten married before they turned 20, but Anil had been unusually slow in following their leads. He had been so busy running the Air Nomad nation that he hadn’t put one thought to finding a wife for many years. And then, before he knew it, he was thirty years old, and the only one of his siblings who didn’t have a partner or children.
Anil had put his siblings in charge of the Air Nomad nation for a time while he traveled the world once again, searching for his other half. He had met his wife, Kala, in the Southern Water Tribe, and had fallen head-over-heels in love with her over the next few years.
His siblings had made fun of him for falling in love with a Southern Water Tribe woman, saying that he had fallen in love with his mother, but Anil didn’t care about their jabs. He loved Kala, and they were soon married.
It took them some more time to have a child. For many years, they just enjoyed each other’s company and doted on their nieces and nephews. Finally, a son had been born to them.
Perhaps it was because he had been raised in such a large family, but Anil and Kala decided that they would focus on raising their son. So while all his siblings had many children, Anil only had one, Taro, his pride and joy. Aang, at least, had lived to see his eldest son’s child.
Kala walked beside him, perfectly at home in the cold weather. “You know the cold is in your blood, right?” Kala laughed at him as he continued to shiver. “If you’d just stay here for more than a few days at a time, I’m sure you’ll start feeling right at home.”
“I love you.” Anil told her. “That doesn’t mean that I automatically have to love cold weather.”
Kala rolled her eyes. “You’re such a baby. It’s not that cold.”
“So says the woman who lived most of her life in the snow.” Anil poked back playfully.
They walked together through the Southern Water Tribe city until they came upon one of the more lavishly decorated houses, which were also unique in the way that it had an old Sky Bison lying in front of the house, dozing in the snow.
Anil walked up to the Bison and he opened his large, wise eyes and greeted Anil happily as the man petted his fur. “Hey there, Appa, how are you holding up?” Anil asked the old Bison.
Appa had been almost as devastated as Katara when Aang had passed on. He had stopped eating for quite a while, and Anil had feared that he would die as well. But Appa recovered. Anil had officially retired the old Bison and let him roam free where he wanted. However, instead of flying free across the skies, it seemed that Appa himself had different plans. It seemed that he had taken in Katara as his new owner and stayed with her, even when she moved back to the Southern Water Tribe to be with her tribal family.
The old Bison was tired and did not seem to want to travel without the company of his bonded partner, so he settled down.
Once Anil had finished greeting Appa, he stepped into the house and was greeted by his youngest sister, Amala. Amala, the only Waterbender that had been born to Aang and Katara, had decided to come to the Southern Water Tribe to take care of her mother upon Aang’s passing.
“Anil!” She gasped, rushing up to him and pulling him, as well as the child he held, in an embrace. Unlike the rest of Anil’s siblings, Amala hadn’t seen a lot of Anil while she was growing up. He had been seventeen years older than her and all ready running the Air Nomad nation when she had been born. Because she was not an Airbender, she had not been trained by him either, but by her mother. When she was growing up, her brother had been like a god… so close and yet constantly out of reach. That had changed a little upon her becoming an adult as well. “It’s so good to see you again! I haven’t seen you since…”
“The funeral, I know.” Anil finished. “It’s so good to see you, Amala. You look more like Mom every day.”
It was true; Amala had turned out to be an almost perfect copy of Katara. In fact, people had often tried to find something of Aang in her appearance. Aang and Katara had insisted that she had Aang’s nose, but Anil looked closer… it looked like Katara’s nose to him.
“That’s what everyone says.” Amala said.
“How’s Mom?” Anil asked.
Amala sighed. “Oh, you know… as good as she can be, I suppose. I don’t blame her. I really miss Dad too.”
“I know. We all do.” Anil said, sighing sadly. “But he’s finally reunited with his people, and that is something we can be grateful for. Where is Mom?”
“Follow me.” Amala said, leading them away while taking Taro from Anil and exclaiming how cute he was getting, and greeting Kala as well.
~~~~~~~~~~
Amala let Anil through the house until he came upon Katara in the sitting room, gazing fondly at a picture that she had in her hands. Anil glanced at it and recognized it… it was a picture of her and Aang shortly before they had gotten married. Portraits were expensive, even for the Avatar, so there were only a few portraits of him in existence, and this was the only one that was just of him and Katara together.
“Hello, Mom.” Anil called.
Katara looked up from the painting, gasping in happiness when she saw that it was her eldest son. “Oh, Anil! I’m so happy to see you!” She stood up, setting the painting aside, and rushing to him and pulling him into an embrace. She pulled away from Anil and turned her attention to Kala and Taro. “Oh wow! Taro’s getting so big!”
“But not too big for a sweet, right?” Kala asked playfully, knowing that Katara was a doting grandmother and always had some candy lying around.
“Now, this is a grandmother’s job.” Katara said, producing a sweet out of nowhere and giving it to Taro.
“Thanks, Grandma.” Taro said, accepting the sweet.
“Now, run along and play.” Kala said, setting her son down, and allowing him to take off.
“They are so cute at that age.” Katara said fondly. “And then they turn into teenagers and drive you mad.”
“Hey, I was pretty good as a teenager aside from a few… incidents.” Anil said, laughing nervously. “Now, Tenzin… he was a handful.”
“You were all handfuls in your own way. At least Tenzin never turned up at the house in the middle of the night, drunk, and so sure that he wanted to get married to a girl he barely knew.”
Anil forced a smile. He had long given up the hope that he would ever live that incident down.
“So… I’m guessing the reason you are here is…”
“To find the next Avatar… yes.” Anil said. “Sho has all ready tested all the Northern Water Tribe children. It took a bit longer than expected, but he’s finished now and passed the toys onto me. Now… here I am.”
“I know that you are honor-bound to search every child, even if the Avatar reincarnate has been found, but can you tell me if Sho found the Avatar in the Northern Tribe?” Katara asked.
Anil hesitated before answering. He knew the answer, of course, but he wasn’t supposed to reveal this sort of information. He would tell the chiefs of the Water Tribes when he found out, of course, but Katara was not the chief. But then he thought better of it. “You can’t tell anyone.” He said seriously. “But Sho did not find Dad’s reincarnation in the Northern Tribe. The new Avatar is here, in the Southern Tribe.”
Katara sighed. “I thought so.”
“Do you have a guess?” Anil asked.
“Yes. A little girl.” Katara said. “I’ve seen her around the city, and sometimes when I catch her eyes… it’s like I can see a little something of Aang in her.”
“That does sound promising.” Anil said. “What is her name?”
“Korra.” Katara answered.
~~~~~~~~~~
Anil wasted no time in performing the ceremony to search for the next Avatar. With the Water Tribe’s help, they filled a room with thousands of toys from all four nations just as Aang had once described to him, and placed the four Avatar relics among the toys: the wooden Hog-monkey, the stuffed turtle, the hand-drum, and the little propeller.
The Southern Water Tribe was larger than it had been at the end of the war, but it was still smaller than the Northern Water Tribe, and there were not a lot of eligible children to test: only half a dozen. The child that Katara had picked as the next Avatar, Korra, was also there, a bright and bubbly three year old.
The testing went by quickly for most of the children. Upon seeing the room full of toys and being told they could have any four they wanted, most of them went insane with glee, running around and snatching toys left and right without any thought. None of them touched and had a second glance at the only, grimy relics… except for Korra.
She was more thoughtful in picking the toys, being drawn to the four relics and picking all of them with almost no hesitation. Once she was done, she ran back to her mother.
“What do you say to Master Anil for giving you these toys?” The mother scolded the little girl.
Korra turned to face Anil. “Thank you, Masta Anil.” She said, bowing. For just a moment, Anil saw in her eyes what Katara had seen… just a hint of his father’s spirit reborn in another.
Anil smiled and almost started crying on the spot. He wiped at his eyes. “You’re very welcome, little one.”
She skipped out of the room, hugging the four relics to herself, babbling to her mother happily about her amazing new toys.
The new Avatar had been found… his father’s spirit had been reborn in young Avatar Korra. For a moment, Anil had a crazy desire to stay in the Southern Water Tribe for the next thirteen years, just to be close to her. But he pushed the foolish notion aside. He had a nation to run, and she had to grow up as normally as possible. There will soon be plenty of time to meet her. Tenzin would be her Airbending teacher, but she would still need a teacher in the secret Avatar Arts, like the Avatar State and accessing the Spirit World. These were the things that Anil knew and could teach her. He just had to be patient…
LES: Only one more chapter left… which will be even more “Korra” than this one.
Chapter L: The Search
Anil shivered as he pulled his robes tighter around his body, even though the South Pole was his mother’s birthplace, he had never really gotten used to the year-round freezing cold. Sure, it got cold at the Southern Air Temple in the winter, but at least they had a summer that got above freezing.
Thinking back on the last three years, it had definitely been hard. To the shock of everyone in the world, three years ago, his father had contracted a wasting illness that had affected him for weeks before finally taking his life.
Katara had done everything that she could, but had been unable to stop or slow the progression of the disease as it slowly sapped her husband’s energy. There was only one explanation for her inability to heal him… that it really was his time to go, and the Spirit World was calling to him.
For the first time since they had split up upon their coming of age, all of Aang’s children had gathered at the Southern Air Temple, most of them bringing along grandchildren, and were by their father’s side for the last days of his life. He had passed into the Spirit World quietly, and he promised without pain, with his wife sitting next to him and surrounded by his family.
After that, it had been a very hard time for Anil. Not only was he grieving for a father that he loved dearly, but as the oldest and the leader of a family and a nation, it was his responsibility to make sure that things continued as they were, and that the Air Nomad’s world did not stop.
He drew strength from the knowledge that his father was just waiting in the Spirit World, finally reunited with those he had loved and lost, and that he was waiting for his family to join him there.
It was harder to watch his mother. She carried on with life, because she knew her husband well enough to know that he wouldn’t want her to give up life, but Anil could tell that she was mostly going through the motions of life, awaiting the day when the Spirit World called for her as well and she could rejoin her husband. She dealt with her husband’s death the best way that anyone could… by devoting herself completely to spoiling her grandchild rotten.
As was to be expected, Sho and Toshi had, by far, the most children out of any of Aang’s children. They not only had the six children from their first round of the plan, but they eventually decided to have even more children. Sho had a dozen children and Toshi had ten, because the second time two of the women failed to get pregnant. But that didn’t mean the others were lazy in having their own children.
Anil smiled fondly at the child that he held cradled in against his chest. Even though the boy was ten years old, Anil permitted him to cuddle against him because of the cold. They both benefited from the warmth they provided each other.
All of Anil’s siblings had fallen in love and gotten married before they turned 20, but Anil had been unusually slow in following their leads. He had been so busy running the Air Nomad nation that he hadn’t put one thought to finding a wife for many years. And then, before he knew it, he was thirty years old, and the only one of his siblings who didn’t have a partner or children.
Anil had put his siblings in charge of the Air Nomad nation for a time while he traveled the world once again, searching for his other half. He had met his wife, Kala, in the Southern Water Tribe, and had fallen head-over-heels in love with her over the next few years.
His siblings had made fun of him for falling in love with a Southern Water Tribe woman, saying that he had fallen in love with his mother, but Anil didn’t care about their jabs. He loved Kala, and they were soon married.
It took them some more time to have a child. For many years, they just enjoyed each other’s company and doted on their nieces and nephews. Finally, a son had been born to them.
Perhaps it was because he had been raised in such a large family, but Anil and Kala decided that they would focus on raising their son. So while all his siblings had many children, Anil only had one, Taro, his pride and joy. Aang, at least, had lived to see his eldest son’s child.
Kala walked beside him, perfectly at home in the cold weather. “You know the cold is in your blood, right?” Kala laughed at him as he continued to shiver. “If you’d just stay here for more than a few days at a time, I’m sure you’ll start feeling right at home.”
“I love you.” Anil told her. “That doesn’t mean that I automatically have to love cold weather.”
Kala rolled her eyes. “You’re such a baby. It’s not that cold.”
“So says the woman who lived most of her life in the snow.” Anil poked back playfully.
They walked together through the Southern Water Tribe city until they came upon one of the more lavishly decorated houses, which were also unique in the way that it had an old Sky Bison lying in front of the house, dozing in the snow.
Anil walked up to the Bison and he opened his large, wise eyes and greeted Anil happily as the man petted his fur. “Hey there, Appa, how are you holding up?” Anil asked the old Bison.
Appa had been almost as devastated as Katara when Aang had passed on. He had stopped eating for quite a while, and Anil had feared that he would die as well. But Appa recovered. Anil had officially retired the old Bison and let him roam free where he wanted. However, instead of flying free across the skies, it seemed that Appa himself had different plans. It seemed that he had taken in Katara as his new owner and stayed with her, even when she moved back to the Southern Water Tribe to be with her tribal family.
The old Bison was tired and did not seem to want to travel without the company of his bonded partner, so he settled down.
Once Anil had finished greeting Appa, he stepped into the house and was greeted by his youngest sister, Amala. Amala, the only Waterbender that had been born to Aang and Katara, had decided to come to the Southern Water Tribe to take care of her mother upon Aang’s passing.
“Anil!” She gasped, rushing up to him and pulling him, as well as the child he held, in an embrace. Unlike the rest of Anil’s siblings, Amala hadn’t seen a lot of Anil while she was growing up. He had been seventeen years older than her and all ready running the Air Nomad nation when she had been born. Because she was not an Airbender, she had not been trained by him either, but by her mother. When she was growing up, her brother had been like a god… so close and yet constantly out of reach. That had changed a little upon her becoming an adult as well. “It’s so good to see you again! I haven’t seen you since…”
“The funeral, I know.” Anil finished. “It’s so good to see you, Amala. You look more like Mom every day.”
It was true; Amala had turned out to be an almost perfect copy of Katara. In fact, people had often tried to find something of Aang in her appearance. Aang and Katara had insisted that she had Aang’s nose, but Anil looked closer… it looked like Katara’s nose to him.
“That’s what everyone says.” Amala said.
“How’s Mom?” Anil asked.
Amala sighed. “Oh, you know… as good as she can be, I suppose. I don’t blame her. I really miss Dad too.”
“I know. We all do.” Anil said, sighing sadly. “But he’s finally reunited with his people, and that is something we can be grateful for. Where is Mom?”
“Follow me.” Amala said, leading them away while taking Taro from Anil and exclaiming how cute he was getting, and greeting Kala as well.
~~~~~~~~~~
Amala let Anil through the house until he came upon Katara in the sitting room, gazing fondly at a picture that she had in her hands. Anil glanced at it and recognized it… it was a picture of her and Aang shortly before they had gotten married. Portraits were expensive, even for the Avatar, so there were only a few portraits of him in existence, and this was the only one that was just of him and Katara together.
“Hello, Mom.” Anil called.
Katara looked up from the painting, gasping in happiness when she saw that it was her eldest son. “Oh, Anil! I’m so happy to see you!” She stood up, setting the painting aside, and rushing to him and pulling him into an embrace. She pulled away from Anil and turned her attention to Kala and Taro. “Oh wow! Taro’s getting so big!”
“But not too big for a sweet, right?” Kala asked playfully, knowing that Katara was a doting grandmother and always had some candy lying around.
“Now, this is a grandmother’s job.” Katara said, producing a sweet out of nowhere and giving it to Taro.
“Thanks, Grandma.” Taro said, accepting the sweet.
“Now, run along and play.” Kala said, setting her son down, and allowing him to take off.
“They are so cute at that age.” Katara said fondly. “And then they turn into teenagers and drive you mad.”
“Hey, I was pretty good as a teenager aside from a few… incidents.” Anil said, laughing nervously. “Now, Tenzin… he was a handful.”
“You were all handfuls in your own way. At least Tenzin never turned up at the house in the middle of the night, drunk, and so sure that he wanted to get married to a girl he barely knew.”
Anil forced a smile. He had long given up the hope that he would ever live that incident down.
“So… I’m guessing the reason you are here is…”
“To find the next Avatar… yes.” Anil said. “Sho has all ready tested all the Northern Water Tribe children. It took a bit longer than expected, but he’s finished now and passed the toys onto me. Now… here I am.”
“I know that you are honor-bound to search every child, even if the Avatar reincarnate has been found, but can you tell me if Sho found the Avatar in the Northern Tribe?” Katara asked.
Anil hesitated before answering. He knew the answer, of course, but he wasn’t supposed to reveal this sort of information. He would tell the chiefs of the Water Tribes when he found out, of course, but Katara was not the chief. But then he thought better of it. “You can’t tell anyone.” He said seriously. “But Sho did not find Dad’s reincarnation in the Northern Tribe. The new Avatar is here, in the Southern Tribe.”
Katara sighed. “I thought so.”
“Do you have a guess?” Anil asked.
“Yes. A little girl.” Katara said. “I’ve seen her around the city, and sometimes when I catch her eyes… it’s like I can see a little something of Aang in her.”
“That does sound promising.” Anil said. “What is her name?”
“Korra.” Katara answered.
~~~~~~~~~~
Anil wasted no time in performing the ceremony to search for the next Avatar. With the Water Tribe’s help, they filled a room with thousands of toys from all four nations just as Aang had once described to him, and placed the four Avatar relics among the toys: the wooden Hog-monkey, the stuffed turtle, the hand-drum, and the little propeller.
The Southern Water Tribe was larger than it had been at the end of the war, but it was still smaller than the Northern Water Tribe, and there were not a lot of eligible children to test: only half a dozen. The child that Katara had picked as the next Avatar, Korra, was also there, a bright and bubbly three year old.
The testing went by quickly for most of the children. Upon seeing the room full of toys and being told they could have any four they wanted, most of them went insane with glee, running around and snatching toys left and right without any thought. None of them touched and had a second glance at the only, grimy relics… except for Korra.
She was more thoughtful in picking the toys, being drawn to the four relics and picking all of them with almost no hesitation. Once she was done, she ran back to her mother.
“What do you say to Master Anil for giving you these toys?” The mother scolded the little girl.
Korra turned to face Anil. “Thank you, Masta Anil.” She said, bowing. For just a moment, Anil saw in her eyes what Katara had seen… just a hint of his father’s spirit reborn in another.
Anil smiled and almost started crying on the spot. He wiped at his eyes. “You’re very welcome, little one.”
She skipped out of the room, hugging the four relics to herself, babbling to her mother happily about her amazing new toys.
The new Avatar had been found… his father’s spirit had been reborn in young Avatar Korra. For a moment, Anil had a crazy desire to stay in the Southern Water Tribe for the next thirteen years, just to be close to her. But he pushed the foolish notion aside. He had a nation to run, and she had to grow up as normally as possible. There will soon be plenty of time to meet her. Tenzin would be her Airbending teacher, but she would still need a teacher in the secret Avatar Arts, like the Avatar State and accessing the Spirit World. These were the things that Anil knew and could teach her. He just had to be patient…
LES: Only one more chapter left… which will be even more “Korra” than this one.