Disclaimer: Avatar is not mine. It is Nickelodeon's. So mote it be.

Author's Note: There is no definitive information on which spirit fish is Tui and which is La, so I'm just choosing the one I think is correct. *shrug*

Yue, La

Tui. La.

push. pull.

in. out.

Theirs was love.

Not love like mortals feel, the desire to fuse flesh to flesh, to never part, to be forever one.

Theirs was love that could never touch, that was forever matching force with force, pushing, pulling in turn, an all-consuming rhythm. It was not rational, it was not emotional, it was not theirs to decide. They were defined by each other; they could not exist alone.

Such was their love.

in. out.

The life that entered their awareness was small and fluttering. Its heart was beating wrong, and it was almost ended, before it had even begun.

Life is but a moment in the best of times, said He, and loss makes mortals strong.

There may come a time, said She, with a glance at the stars, that such investments will be wise.

The child lived.

in. out.

Theirs was tranquility, was peace, and the war that raged around them was none of their concern. Their matters were more important. Matters cool and liquid and blue-black-white. Serene.

The hot rough red hand that shattered their blessed calm was mortal, was flickering mocking hateful proud. She screamed, and He was lost without her for mere moments (forever).

in. out.

Grief.

Grief.

Grief.

He called out in his agony, feeling the seashores of the world rise up and shudder. Fishermen on the other side of the world felt the tremor in their bones, and feared the tsunami that would surely rise.

In a steaming swamp in the middle of the day, an old man's eyes went wide.

In a village at the base of a volcano in the middle of the night, an old woman frowned at the stars. "You," she said to the empty sky. "Are supposed to be full tonight."

And in a secret oasis at the crown of the earth, one spirit called, and another answered.

in. out

Princess Yue of the Northern Water Tribe, after sixteen beautiful, borrowed years, looks down at the body of the Moon Spirit. She places her hands upon its skin, guided in her motions by a destiny she had not known she had.

She closes her eyes. She feels the warmth of the oasis, the softness of her robes, the ground beneath her feet and the cold slimy fish under her hands. She thinks: I give to you what I have received, Tui.

Then, nothing.

in. out.

There is no pain. There is no fear, no uncertainty. There is nothing.

Then there is coolness all around Her, and She ripples Her body, moving water through Her gills and around Her fins.

Then there is the feeling of mass and an awesome void, and oh, oh, there is the Earth beneath Her. There is the Fire Nation, and the Earth Kingdom, and there, there is the North Pole and Her city, all rendered in perfect focus, seen at once in its entirety and all its detail.

And there is Sokka.

He is so small! She thinks. Look at the whole world! Look at the whole universe! It is so crystal clear up here! So vast!

But at the same time She can turn Her head and look up at his grief-stricken face through the water, and realizes that only a moment has passed.

So She says goodbye, and comforts him, as a newborn goddess can comfort a mortal.

in. out

Strange.

How strange it is, to exist like this.

To feel the water around Her and the twitching of Her fins, to float serenely through the void and look into the stars, and to dance on a silver circle, all in the same awareness, neither facet of Her being diminished by the presence of the others.

"Dance with me," He says.

His human appearance, she knows, is only for Her benefit, but She does not complain. She smiles.

"I will dance with you."

So they dance forever, never touching, their forces keeping each other forever apart, in eternal orbit, secluded in peace.

in. out.

push. pull.

Yue. La.

Such is their love.