This was birthed while I was looking through my deviantART faves, as a few of my drabbles have, but the idea, I hope is original in itself. Man am I on a roll! Enjoy it while it lasts, because though my New Year's resolution and goal is for regular and not so infrequent or spaced updates on TCR, I don't know if I'll have time for these creative little things on the side ;).

Merry Christmas everyone (who celebrates it)! Here's my Christmas gift to y'all out there XD.

Disclaimer: You're smarter than that.

He was enjoying the human world. Much more than he thought possible. What could mere humans conjure that wasn't in the Spirit World, his real home?

Well, all he had to do was look around him and his question was answered.

There were others who gleaned pleasure of the mortal world; Tui and La, the Moon and Ocean spirits; Ran and Sha, the original dragon spirits; Koh, the Face Stealer (though his visits were always controlled by the Great Spirit-one every hundred years), past Avatars, the like.

There was only one spirit that caught his eye, though.

The Painted Lady.

In the beginning, they thought it was their somewhat opposing origins that attracted them: he was a protector spirit that both comforted and somewhat frightened the waterbenders who 'worshipped' him-he was known to be fierce; she, like him, was sought for protection as well, but by the Fire Nation islanders that respected the ocean and had no reason to be frightened of her-she was a gentle spirit.

However as their continuous meetings proved, they shared more than opposites. Loneliness, wanting more than just reverence from the mortals they served, was what brought them together. The companionship each provided to the other, then evolving into love-kept them together.

He was waiting for her now-at an abandoned bridge in a sleeping Earth Kingdom village. When the moon was highest in the sky, that was when she would appear-he knew.

As she did just then, drifting towards him in her robes that was like the mist she lived in. Her beautiful face was hidden by the conic hat she wore at all times, like the twin swords at his waist.

"Waiting long?" she breathed, looking up at him coyly. He growled, and in one swift movement, pushed her against the bridge railing.

"Maybe this is why none of the other female spirits would give you the time of day...you are far too rough," the Painted Lady murmured, wrapping her arms around him.

"Is this too much for you?" the Blue Spirit mocked as he licked her neck through his mask. He almost never took it off-in retrospect, she was the only one who had seen him with it off. She moaned and replied breathlessly, "Never."

They were temporarily interrupted by a lone passerby, but of course the human did not see them. She giggled at the unaware mortal and he snorted.

"They can make you laugh, while I'm still trying?" he asked, resuming his ministrations on her neck, tracing her tattoos.

"You make me do more than laugh," she whispered seductively, pushing his mask up so she could kiss his waiting lips.

A cough stopped them both and made them turn their heads to see Gēzi, spirit of the pigeon as well as the messenger of the Spirit World, standing on the bridge with his arms crossed. His long, dark green hair that normally lay down against his head, was sticking up in annoyance. He took the form of a human, with a few twists: his arms sprouted gray and black feathers that lengthened into wings on whim. His otherwise naked body was also covered in these feathers; it was only his face that remained bare. And instead of human feet, his were those of a pigeon, and right now they were tapping impatiently.

"Get a room you two," he scoffed, rolling his eyes. Before the couple could say or do anything, he raised a feathered hand. "But before you do, the Great Spirit would like to see you two in his palace. So scat." With that, his somewhat human arms turned completely into wings, and he flew away.

The Blue Spirit half-groaned half-sighed as he removed himself from his lover's embrace.

"The next time I see him, I'm gonna pluck his feathers out one by one," he growled, adjusting his mask.

"Oh stop, he is just doing his job. Besides, it is the Great Spirit-nothing can refuse him. Let's go," the Painted Lady soothed, taking his hand.

"You want us to do what?"

The Blue Spirit was outraged, and his companion put her hand on his shoulder to calm him down.

"Do I really need to repeat myself, jīngshén? And it is not a matter of 'want'. You and the Painted Lady are to manifest in human form to help the next Avatar, who will be emerging from his icy isolation in approximately sixteen years. You will be, essentially, 'born' as humans into the mortal realm and will stay as such until your human bodies fail and you 'perish'. Then you will return to your spirit forms and return to this world. But until then, you will be friends and teachers of the Avatar and guide him, will not recognize each other, and will not know what you truly are. It's time this war ended," the Great Spirit declared. He took on infinite forms, but at the moment, appeared in front of the Painted Lady and the Blue Spirit as a great golden dragon.

"But why us, Revered One?" the Painted Lady asked, lowering her eyes in respect.

"I have my reasons that would be too complicated to explain. Now all the details cannot be elucidated, but not to worry, I will take care of it all. Be back here in one hour. You are free to go for the allotted time," the Great Spirit answered, dismissing them.

The Blue Spirit stormed out, while his companion bowed and hurried after him.

"Well? What do you think?" she asked him, holding back tears. He turned to face her, pain and determination radiating from him, even though his mask kept its fearsome expression.

"I think...that you need to come to my room," he whispered.

"You are almost late," the Great Spirit chided, this time appearing before them as a middle-aged human woman, which may seem strange to outsiders, but if the Great Spirit wished it, so it was. "I hope you spent your hour...memorably."

The Blue Spirit just grunted, and the Painted Lady was too devastated to blush.

"Let's dispense with the niceties, shall we? I have no desire to stretch this out longer than necessary-I do have other duties to attend to. Now, both of you stand in that jade circle there," the Great Spirit pointed to the circle on the floor about five feet in front of his throne, "and stand with your backs to each other. As you are opposites in this world, so you will be in the next."

The two lesser spirits obeyed, the Painted Lady taking hold of the Blue Spirit's hand.

"Húdié, please let go," the Great Spirit ordered softly but firmly. She shuddered, but complied, their fingers still reaching out for each other from their positions.

"As you face the south, húdié, so you there you will go. As you face the north, jīngshén, you will be there as well, though not as far as the pole. All you have to do now-is be."

With that, the Great Spirit lifted its arms in front of it, palms facing the two spirits. From its hands, a soft white light emerged, growing stronger and faster as it encompassed the butterfly and the spirit. It became blinding, and neither could move nor see the other.

"Lady...I will find you in the other world," the Blue Spirit whispered, hoping she had heard him.

"I will wait for you," the butterfly answered.

And with a flash, they were both gone. The Great Spirit sighed and smiled, reverting to his most favored form, that of Avatar Roku.

"This will make for a most interesting end."

Tense silence, broken only with heavy breaths and then-

A baby's wail.

The midwives rejoiced, and one told the messenger standing outside the door: "How Agni smiles upon us today! Go, go tell the Fire Lord that he has a son!"

As cheers rang throughout the palace, a midwife gently handed the baby to his mother.

"Lady Ursa, here is your son-so handsome he almost seems to glow," she exclaimed.

Ursa laughed tiredly. "Oh but he is still just a baby...we'll see when he grows older what a fine man he truly will be."

"What do you plan to name him, my lady?" another midwife asked.

"We're thinking of...Zuko."

~~~~~~2 Years Later~~~~~~

Her labored breathing vaporized in front of her as she heaved and pushed, urged on by the women of her tribe.

"Come on Kya, you can do it...I see the baby's head!"

"Keep going, you're almost done..."

"Just one more push, come on Kya, one more push..."

And the baby was born.

"It's a girl!"

"Oh, how she glows!"

"Congratulations Hakoda, you now have a daughter!"

As the villagers celebrated, Hakoda rushed in to see his wife and child. Kneeling down by his wife's head, he asked for permission to hold his daughter. The midwife who was holding her obliged, handing her over with a smile.

"She's beautiful..." he murmured, grinning at his daughter in awe. Kya smiled tiredly, still catching her breath.

"Shall we name her what we decided on?" he asked, looking to his wife.

She nodded and stretched. "Yes...hello, Katara."

They always felt some attraction to each other, something deeper than just lust or love. The Avatar always knew he couldn't marry a spirit.

The Blue Spirit promised he'd find her, his húdié.

And now, he has.

This was going to go in my Zutara Collection, but I think it's a little too long -_-; It wasn't supposed to be this lengthy but I just started and I couldn't stop...I'm very proud of it ^_^

Notes:

*Gēzi = pigeon, jīngshén = spirit, húdié = butterfly, all in chinese (at least according to GoogleTranslate © XD—in fact I recommend you search them up to see what they sound like because they don't all look like they sound 0.o)
*Yes, the Great Spirit is referred to as 'he' or 'him', even if he appeared as a woman that one time. :) Just seems like something he'd do (to me). And I 'created' him so what I say is what he is. :(.

Did anyone catch how the babies GLOWED? Hmmm? I wonder what THAT meant...

Don't forget to review! Thanks guys, and Merry Christmas!