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The Air Nation and the Water Tribes.
Two extremely versatile societies, with rich cultures and very diverse people.
From these two societies came two very special people, who against all odds managed to create a beautiful life together: Avatar Aang from the Southern Air Temple and Master Katara from the Southern Water Tribe.
From the very start, Aang and Katara intertwined their traditions in ways not many believed were possible in the fresh post-war era.
Their wedding, the beginning of their family, had been the grandest event in over a century for both nations given that the war had prevented such festivities during its reign of terror. That day was to be a sign of healing, of peace, and of celebration as their friends and family from all four nations came together at Air Temple Island in honor of love.
Aang had been standing at the marble altar in long flowing robes of the brightest yellows, reds, and oranges. The warm smile on his face complimented the warm hues of his clothing, and a string of engraved wooden beads and thread tassels adorned his neck.
Katara, on the other hand, looked like the night to his day, wearing a deep, dark blue dress passed down from her mother. It had golden thread embroidered on the bodice and skirt to mimic the constellations sailors used to navigate the icy waters surrounding her home, and, in Aang’s opinion, it gave her an absolutely ethereal presence.
Bouquets of ice lilies, pink flowers that grew near the Southern Spirit Oasis, intermingled with the flowers of moon peaches grown at the Air Temples lined the halls of the temple as the bride and groom’s loved ones watched them perform each nation’s respective wedding customs.
As per Air Nomad tradition, the week before the wedding, Aang and Katara had visited the four air temples and meditated in front of each of the eternal tornadoes in hopes that the cardinal wind spirits would guide them in the right direction no matter where life led.
The pair had also gotten complimentary tattoos on their backs, right over their hearts (slightly above in Aang’s case due to his scar): yin for Aang and yang for Katara, to symbolize how they balanced each other and created harmony.
When they stood on the altar, their officiator, Hakoda, had tied three sacred red strings around their ring fingers. They were woven from plants growing around Aang’s original home, the Southern Air Temple, and symbolized the red thread of fate binding them to each other, their soulmates. The strings also stood for the three tenets of a successful marriage: trust, communication, and love, all of which they had plenty of.
The second part of the ceremony incorporated the Southern Water Tribe traditions. Around Katara’s neck rested her mother’s necklace, the symbol for water on one side and the symbol for air on the other, an addition by Aang (with her permission of course) so that she would never have to choose between wearing one pendant or the other.
After their hands had been binded by the threads, their two chosen tribal elders, Pakku and Kanna, stepped up with wooden bowls of navy paint in hand and gave them their marks from ice dodging all those years ago. Katara, once again, received a crescent moon in the center of her forehead, the Mark of the Brave, while Aang was given the Mark of the Trusted, a slightly curved arch that barely touched the tip of his arrow.
“Aang and Katara,” Hakoda began, “Your two marks show that you are the embodiment of bravery and honesty, and these traits will do you well in the years to come. You will always have courage and trust in one another, as those are your natural inclinations, but you must take care to incorporate logic and wisdom into your interactions and decisions with one another to remain as steadfast and stable as the undulations of the great ocean.”
He turned to the enraptured airbender, who was unable to tear his gaze away from his soon-to-be wife.
“Do you, Avatar Aang of the Air Nomads, vow to trust Katara, to accept, learn from, and return her courage and bravery, to love her through wind and hail, through blizzards and storms, in times of plenty and of scarcity, for as long as the moon guides the sea’s waves to shore?”
“I do.”
Hakoda smiled and turned to his daughter.
“And do you, Master Katara of the Southern Water Tribe, vow to have courage for Aang, to accept, learn from, and return his trust and honesty, to love him through wind and hail, through blizzards and storms, in times of plenty and of scarcity, for as long as moon guides the sea’s waves to shore?”
“I do.”
“Then let the spirits of our ancestors, the great Tui and La, and the cardinal wind spirits bear witness to this union and bless it as they have with all those before.”
Hakoda, Pakku, and Kanna all dipped their fingers into a small bowl of water from the Spirit Oasis and sprinkled it over the couple.
“You are now husband and wife. Welcome to the family, son.”
Aang and Katara both smiled widely and pulled each other into a tight embrace.
“We’re married,” the airbender whispered incredulously.
“I know,” she said back. “I was there.”
He laughed and swept her up in a kiss, taking care not to mess up her ornate braids as he closed the distance between them.
“I love you,” he murmured when they finally parted.
“I should hope so, you did just vow to love me no matter what.”
Aang rolled his eyes and pouted. “I’m trying to be sweet here, the least you could do is return the favor.”
Katara gave him an exaggerated sigh and rested her head on his chest, her arms draped around his neck and she closed her eyes in contentment.
“I love you too, Aang. Forever and always.”
“See now that’s more like it!” he grinned, making the waterbender chuckle.
“All that planning, all the months of stress and doing overtime to get the next two weeks off and planning and the wedding invitations and did I mention the planning?” The two shared a short laugh. “All of that and we’re finally here. We’re married . What do we do now? Where do we go from here?”
“Slow down there, Tara. We have the rest of our lives together to figure all that out. Let’s stay in the moment.”
“Rest of our lives. I like the sound of that,” she smiled.
“I did promise you that we would grow old together, did I not? I intend on seeing that through. For now though, the buffet will be starting and I’m famished. Let’s go eat!”
“You sound like Sokka,” she deadpanned, an amused glint in her eyes nevertheless. “Lead the way, my dear husband.”
The airbender gallantly gestured to where the rest of the crowd had already started heading. “But of course, my lovely wife.”
The banquet, like their wedding, was an exquisite culmination of food from all over. There were countless Air Nomad and Water Tribe dishes present, in addition to a few from the Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation like bean curd puffs, mochi, and, of course, Aang’s personal favorite, egg custard tarts.
Though Aang had reassured his bride during the wedding planning that she could arrange for as many meat dishes as she liked for her Water Tribe family, Katara had declined, saying that they could go without it for one day.
Instead, the feast had traditional southern foods like kale cookies, five flavor soup, sea prune stew (which Aang took extra care to avoid), and a new dessert that Sokka had been working on: spun sugar in the shape of a ball that he liked to call “cotton candy”.
The guests attending were especially excited for the Air Nomad cuisine present, as such a variety of foods from their culture hadn’t been seen in over a century. Vegetable-filled dumplings and bowls of savory mung bean curry sat on round platforms that rotated in the center of the tables. Golden platters held coconut macaroons, warm steamed buns, and a large variety of fruit pies made from the trees that grew on the mountainside next to the temples. There was also a special syrup made from maple trees that went over a fluffy Earth Kingdom delicacy called “pancakes.”
Everyone had an absolutely grand time, and the event was one talked about for quite some time to come, both with its political significance (the Avatar’s wedding wasn’t something that happened every day) and the symbolism it had for how the nations themselves could work together if they tried to create something beautiful.
The way Aang and Katara’s traditions mixed that very first day of their family was reflected throughout the rest of their life as they blended their cultures for their children.
Aang often took Bumi, Kya, and Tenzin to meditate by the lagoon for some tranquility and peace of mind. He reminded them of the importance of being open to new ideas and to look at things clearly and calmly. He helped them take on life as it came and have faith that they would always be led in the right direction by fate like a leaf being carried by the wind.
Katara also took the three to the lagoon on the southwest tip of the island, not so much to meditate but rather to observe the motion of ripples and the subtle movement of the water. She taught them to always have hope and to not be detached from their emotions. She wanted them to remain present in the moment, making sure they were aware of what they were feeling without being consumed by it- a delicate balance like the ebb and flow of the tides.
Once Bumi, Kya, and Tenzin each turned 14, their parents took them down to the South Pole for ice dodging, a Southern Water Tribe coming-of-age ceremony and rite of passage. As was tradition, their dad, Aang, was to take the three out on a wooden sailboat to navigate the treacherous and iceberg-filled waters of the Antarctic.
Though he wasn’t born in the Water Tribes, the airbender made sure to ask and learn all he could from Hakoda, Sokka, and Pakku so that he could pass on and perform those special father-child rituals.
No one was grinning wider than Aang when he awarded Bumi the Mark of the Brave for preventing the boat from capsizing, his heart had overflowed with joy giving Kya the Mark of the Trusted after she guided them through a narrow glacial pass, and he felt nothing but pure pride painting the Mark of the Wise on Tenzin’s freshly-tattooed arrow after his creative airbending solution to evade an ice blockade.
Despite his young age, Tenzin was an incredibly skilled airbender. Alongside Aang, he was one of the youngest masters in Air Nomad history, having earned his arrows in an extremely tear-filled ceremony a mere month before going ice dodging.
In fact, all of the kids were quite naturally talented at their respective disciplines. Bumi, a nonbender, took up many martial arts forms and combat styles, specifically “aikido” and “anipak.”
Aikido was an Air Nomad self defense technique. Though Aang taught all his children to use any form of fighting only as a last resort, he wanted to make sure they could protect themselves in a precarious situation. Aikido aligned with the Air Nomad beliefs of pacifism by relying on the principle of using your opponent's energy against them rather than being the aggressor.
Anipak, on the other hand, was the name given to the Southern Water Tribe style of combat. Bumi learned the ways of the boomerang and scimitar, a type of sword with a long curved blade, from his uncle Sokka and grandfather, who were delighted to teach him such a vital part of his heritage.
Both fighting techniques served Bumi well during his time in the United Forces and made him known as a great general, soldier, and leader, not just the child of two of the most powerful benders in the world.
As the only girl and spitting image of Katara, Kya learned healing and the Southern Water Tribe style of waterbending from her mother. Despite being a waterbender, she had the heart and spirit of an airbender like her father. She had a natural aptitude towards healing, much like Katara, but didn’t want to learn to fight. It wasn’t until Aang showed her how to incorporate airbending-like movements into her waterbending that she ever opened up to the idea.
Over the years, both parents taught her well, and, true to her nomadic roots, she went on to travel the globe and became a world-renowned healer who could most definitely hold her own in a fight.
Finally, the youngest of the three was Tenzin. With the weight of a whole nation on his shoulders, it was no secret that he held more of a connection to his Air Nomad side, but there was still significant Water Tribe influence.
Tenzin learned airbending from his father, Aang, but after years of watching his mother and sister waterbend, his movements became quite similar. He incorporated more redirection and punchier motions with his acrobatics to create a unique style of airbending that came from both cultures. These gave him an advantage while fighting and led to the thing that would earn him his mastery tattoos: the air wheel, inspired by a similar spinning water move Tenzin had seen Katara do.
The three cloudbabies had truly gotten the best of both worlds, and carried on their parents’ legacies by ushering the world into new eras of unity, peace, and prosperity.
Of course, despite all Aang and Katara’s efforts, there were still moments when Bumi, Kya, and Tenzin felt detached from their heritage. After all, they weren’t fully immersed in either society, having lived at Air Temple Island all their lives. Whether they were visiting their grandpa in the South or sitting in on an Air Acolyte lesson, there would often be a feeling of not quite belonging.
They were from the two rarest cultures in the world, and their combination had never been seen before. No one completely understood what it was like for them, not even each other. All three of them each had different relationships to each part of their culture, whether it was feeling closer to one or not feeling connected to either.
Katara and Aang did their best to assuage any fears or concerns they had, teaching them everything they wanted to know while also telling them that there was no pressure to learn, that they could go on to forge their own path and leave old traditions behind in the past, if that was what they wanted. And sometimes that reassurance helped, but sometimes it didn’t.
No family was perfect, and that held true for them. They had their fair share of problems, but at the end of the day, both Aang and Katara, as well as their children, were proud to be who they were. They were proud of their heritage, of where they came from, and of their unique set of traditions, and they wouldn’t give it up for the world.
So in spite of all the hardships, all the challenges, and all the struggles, with an abundance of love in their hearts for both each other and their children, Aang and Katara, two very different people from two very different nations, managed to create their own culture, a unique mix of Air Nomad and Southern Water Tribe traditions, just as beautiful and blended as their family.