“Do they even know each other?”

Either way, “Uh… they’re a little young right now, but if they make each other happy when they get older, I don’t see a problem with it.”

“Well, I’m sure all of my friends and family would protect me if I needed it, no matter what. Some of them have already risked their lives trying to help me.”

But there was one who’d gone above and beyond—and been there every time she could remember.

Maybe she’d doubted before, but now?

“I sure do!”

“Is that a trick question?”

“Do I really have to list all the people? I’m pretty sure you know them all.”

“And an Avatar’s supposed to do whatever it takes to keep peace in the world—so I will.” Whatever it takes.

“I wouldn’t give Meelo my fur to ‘borrow’ as a cape for playing flying lemurbat.”

“That thing stank when I got it back. Pema worked a miracle somehow and got it clean, but now I know better.”

Never again.

There were so many things she’d done that people probably never thought she could.

Mastered three of the four elements by the age of seventeen. Made it to Republic City by herself. Stopped a revolution. Restored Avatar Aang’s legacy as peacefully as he’d instated it.

Found friends. Love. Made her parents proud.

But most of all…

“I learned to listen.”

To the people who were trying to help, to her past lives, to what was inside herself. It was the hardest lesson of all, that final breakthrough made only when all hope had been lost—which was why it was the most precious by far.

“The first time I broke a hole in the wall at home. Mom burst into tears and Dad spanked me so hard I swear I felt it for weeks.”

“But that’s how we all knew I was the Avatar, so I guess it wasn’t all bad.”

“I guess it’s a Water Tribe thing.”

“Uhhh…”

“N-not yet. We’re waiting for the right time.”

Like when they weren’t all under the same roof as her parents.