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Camila was born to a Southern Water Tribe man and a Northern Water Tribe woman, who met in Republic City. Her mother was a well known Water Bender who specialized in healing while her father was a Non-Bender. Camila, herself, was a Non-Bender like her father but she wanted to be like her mother, a healer. She was determined to follow in her mother’s steps and something as silly as bending wasn't going to stop her.
When Camila was a teenager, Avatar Korra made an announcement about the increase of Non-Benders. Camila didn't understand what the big deal was, the population of Benders had consistently been going down for years. The harmonic convergence had only provided a boost to Benders at the time, it didn't change that more and more people were being born without the innate ability to manipulate the elements. Half of Camila’s classmates were Non-Benders.
Still, the Avatar reassured the people everything was ok, that everything would continue to be fine. Camila didn't think the speech was necessary but thought her fellow Water Tribe member handled things well.
Camila was going to be a nurse. That’s what she told others when they asked what she was studying at Republic City University. She had worked as hard as she could to get accepted even though the University have said they would accept Non-Bending students for around a decade.
The Nursing school had been mostly filled with Water Benders that had an aptitude to healing. Most, if not all, of the classes were structured for such Benders and Camila struggled. She had done well in the theoretical classes but her inability to Bend made the practical classes near impossible to pass.
The Water Tribe member had nearly quit after her first month but then she remembered why she decided to be a nurse in the first place.
“I’ll make you proud, Mother.” Camila would whisper to herself every time doubt tried to sneak its way into her mind.
Two years into her schooling a friend had invited Camila to her dorm after a particularly hard exam. They watched old movers together, her friend having a soft spot for Bolin’s acting days. Camila didn't get it but it was nice to just be with a friend, no stress.
“What’s this?” Camila asked as she held up a book. There was a strange ship-like thing printed on the cover.
“Cosmic Frontier,” her friend told her as she prepped the next film. “My cousin works at a publishing company. He thought I’d like it.”
“Huh…” Camila flipped the book and glanced at the summary.
“You can borrow it if you want.”
Camila nodded, placing the book into her bag. It might be a good read.
Camila fell in love with Cosmic Frontier . Every human in the cast were Non-Benders just like her and the aliens were similar to some spirits, giving her a sense of familiarity amongst the strange setting as she read. She went back to her friend to see if there were any more books as soon as she finished.
Manuel ‘Manny’ Noceda was of Earth Kingdom descent. For a long time that was all Camila knew about him. That and he was an ambulance driver that came to the hospital she was at for her work-study. They talked a handful of times, usually when he was dropping a patient off, and he seemed nice but that was about it. Their conversations never really went deeper than ‘how are you today’. A shame, Camila would tell her roommate after one shift, because he was kinda cute.
It was the end of shift and Camila stepped out to find Manny shifting side-to-side nervously.
“Manny?” She called out softly so as to not startle him. Fat lot of good that did, the poor man looked like he was face to face with Koh the Face Stealer.
“Camila!” He squeaked, running a hand through his hair. “Hey!”
“Hey yourself.” She smiled and got closer, putting her phone in her purse. “What are you doing here?”
“I came for you.” Her cheeks flushed at that. “I-I mean I c-came to see you.”
She chuckled at his own blushing face. Cute and nervous. What a combo.
“Well, here I am.”
“Here you are.”
They stood in silence as Manny seemed to work himself up.
“Do you want to go on a date with me this weekend?” He blurted out, his body as rigid as stone.
Camila’s face softened. Was that why he was being so weird?
“Sure, I’m looking forward to it.”
They traded numbers and went their separate ways until that weekend. Camila ended up agreeing to many, many more dates after.
Manny Noceda, as it turned out, came from a long, long line of Earth Benders. His father was an Earth Bender, and so was his father’s father, and his father’s father’s father. Manny Noceda came from a long line of Earth Benders and was the first Non-Bender in generations.
Camila didn't see the issue, but she was biased as another Non-Bender. His family, however, had an issue with it. They seemed to value Bending a lot, but Manny was perfect just the way he was to Camila and she made sure to remind him of that.
He was kind and smart and nerdy and he wanted to help people. He liked Cosmic Frontier and strumming some random tune on his guitar whenever the room got too quiet, and if his guitar wasn't there he would hum instead. He’d yet to meet an animal he didn't want to pet. If his family had a problem with that just because he couldn't move the earth then they clearly didn't deserve him. She was more than glad to welcome him to her family.
Camila stretched in an attempt to relieve some of the ache in her back. She, Manny, and their friends had spent most of the morning moving into the Nocedas’ new home in a suburb not far from Republic City.
Her husband came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her, kissing her cheek. “Hey.”
“Hey, yourself.” She smiled, grabbing his arms to keep them there.
“Lee and Nora are arguing about what to do for lunch.” He told her and the Water Tribe woman rolled her eyes.
“Let’s just order a pizza.” She suggested, too tired to deal with her friends’ stubbornness.
“Already did.”
“I love you.”
“I know.” He gave her another kiss. “I love you too.”
They didn't finish unpacking by any means when two boxes of pizza showed up but they did get the living room mostly set up and the boxy little TV up and running.
The Avatar had taken over most, if not all, the channels talking about the state of things in the Spirit World, reminding people to treat the spirits with respect and touched on the increase of Non-Benders again.
Avatar Korra reminded people that technological advances were giving Non-Benders the same abilities as Benders.
At some point the speech became more background noise as the group talked. Camila was really the only one interested in the speech and even her attention went when her husband brought up Cosmic Frontier .
When her daughter was born, everything changed. Camila and Manny had talked about having kids (she wanted to make sure they were on the same page when it came to kids) but their daughter had been a surprise. Camila had never been so scared, doubts filling her head in a way she hadn't experienced since she was a Nursing Major.
Her daughter didn't cry when she was born. She was so quiet and Camila could feel the worry of everyone in the room. Something must have been wrong, the Water Tribe woman knew babies cried when they were born. Then the baby opened her eyes.
Camila swore the baby’s eyes were glowing a blinding white before it faded away to reveal brown eyes that reminded her of Manny’s. The baby looked around and, like someone finally told her what she was supposed to do, the baby cried as loudly as her little lungs would allow.
Camila nearly cried herself when she was allowed to hold her daughter. They didn't learn of the Avatar’s passing until hours later.
Luz was an energetic young girl. As soon as she learned to crawl it felt like Camila and Manny were constantly chasing after her. It seemed like Luz never wanted to be in one place for longer than a few seconds, she always wanted to be moving.
At least until Camila’s parents came to visit. Her mother was practicing her Water Bending one morning and Camila was shocked by what she walked in on. Luz was sitting perfectly still watching as her grandmother manipulated a water bottle’s worth of water. Camila had never seen her daughter so entranced by something before.
Luz’s fascination with Bending seemed to only grow with the little girl. By the time she was four, it had become a tradition for the family to watch Pro-Bending matches even though the sport was losing steam as Bending rates went down. Luz loved to watch the matches and Camila wondered how her daughter would feel if it turned out she was a Non-Bender like her parents. She ended up not having to worry about that.
It was a normal day as far as Camila was concerned. She had started taking more night shifts at the hospital so she could take care of her daughter during the day. That day she was making lunch as her daughter played in the backyard.
Camila dried her hands and went to go collect Luz. “Honey, lunch is-”
The woman froze in place as she stared at the scene before her. Luz was covered in dirt, which wasn't too surprising. What had Camila frozen there was her little girl using the earth to skate around the backyard with a large grin, her movements closer to a Water Bender than that of an Earth Bender.
Luz came to a stop when she noticed Camila, the earth dispersing like a wave washing up onto shore.
“Mami!” The girl cheered, “Did you see me? Did ya, did ya?!”
She nodded, trying to push away the urge to faint at what she had witnessed.
Her daughter was an Earth Bender. “Oh, Raava…”
She had to tell Manny.