Author's Note: Sorry for the long delay. I was editing my original draft for this chapter and realized it felt far too forced. I ended up scraping it entirely which meant I had to come up with a new idea.

Disclaimer: I don't own Legend of Korra.

"What about this one?" Korra asked, waving the paperback in the air. The cover depicted a handsome Water Tribe warrior with a doe-eyed and fainting Fire Nation maiden in his arms.

Pema considered it for a moment before nodding. "Add it to the box."

The novel joined several of its fellows in the wooden crate at Pema's side. Korra picked up the next book in the pile on the dining room table as Pema returned to sorting through the magazines in front of her. A dozen or so had already been stacked into the crate.

"Hey Tenzin," Korra called, in a tone dripping with amusement. Seated at the other end of the table, as far from the paperbacks as possible, Tenzin paused in his letter writing. He looked up warily.

"Yes, Korra?" he asked.

Grinning, she tossed her latest pick at him. Tenzin caught it, glanced down at the cover, and grimaced.

"We're not sending that to my sister," he declared. He shoved it across the table back towards Korra. It didn't quite get there.

Intrigued, Pema reached for the book. Now grinning as well, she read aloud the title, "The Monk and the Runaway Bride." The male figure wore Air Nomad robes, albeit with only a shawl draped across his muscular chest, while the woman was dressed in red wedding robes with an elaborate headdress from which hung a glittering veil to obscure her face.

"Yes, we are," Pema said, "Kya will find it amusing and it's not a bad story." She dropped it into the box.

"It's complete nonsense," her husband declared.

"It's romantic," she countered. Tenzin made no reply but returned to his letter.

Tapping the stack to straighten the magazines, Pema tucked them into the crate. Korra, reading the back of another novel, sighed.

To Pema, she asked dreamily, "Do you think Mako could be my soulmate?"

"I don't know, dear," Pema answered. "You've only known each other for a short time and you're still young - " Korra pouted " - but if it's meant to be than it will."

This cheered the girl considerably.

So much so, in fact, that she turned to Tenzin and asked, "What do you think?"

"About what?"

"If Mako and me are soulmates?" Korra prompted him.

"First of all, it's Mako and I, not me and Mako," he corrected her. She rolled her eyes.

He continued, "As to whether or not you're - " he made a fluttering, dismissive gesture with one hand - "soulmates...I...I have no opinion."

"No opinion?" Korra repeated, disbelieving. Pema shared her incredulity; Tenzin certainly did have opinions about Mako and Korra's relationship. They mostly revolved around Korra's inexperience and the pair's tendency to rush headlong into things without thinking.

The girl further demanded, "And what was with this?" Korra flapped her hand in imitation of Tenzin.

He glanced at Pema, who registered trepidation on his face, and said, "I'm sorry, I need to wrap up this letter if we're going to finish packing the box before the children end their lessons with Acolyte Yen." He set the pen back on paper, but Korra stopped him before he wrote anything.

"Oh come on, seriously, Tenzin, do you not believe in soulmates or something?" she accused him.

He froze for a split second, then met Korra's gaze head on. "No, I don't."

"Ah...okay," Korra murmured, redirecting her attention to the last few books. Pema stared at her husband as his pen started moving again. She caught herself after a moment and began thumbing through the newspaper clippings on the table. As she sorted them into two piles, one for the box and one not, she kept having to reread headlines as her mind whirled. Her throat felt tight; her eyes smarted.

When she had gone through the lot, she slipped them into a large envelope and stuck that in the box.

"I'm going to check on Rohan," she announced, rising and hurrying out of the room.

Scribbling a concluding line, Tenzin threw the pen down and hastened after her.

He didn't have to go far.

"Pema?" he said gently, easing onto the bench in the alcove she had chosen. He left a space between them. Pema's head was bowed, her hands clenched in her lap.

"I'm fine," she offered, but without looking at him.

Tenzin reached out and took her hands in his. He swallowed. "Pema...I know...I know you believe in soulmates and…that we...are."

She raised her head; disappointment and heartache clear on her face. "You never told me you didn't believe."

"Because I thought it would hurt you and it never seemed that important." He took a deep breath. "Maybe if I explain why I don't believe...maybe that will help?"

"I'm listening."

She waited as Tenzin marshaled his thoughts into order, wanting to be coherent and lucid.

Finally, he began speaking, "I was eleven months old when I airbent for the first time. Other benders, they usually can remember a time before they learned to bend; I can't. I was always an Airbender...and I always knew that meant more than just bending. It meant all of this." He gestured broadly to encompass the entire Temple.

"Being an Airbender - it defines me - what I wear, what I eat, where I live, what beliefs I follow, what work I do,whether or not I wanted children." He attempted a smile. "Fortunately, I happen to like this life, but even still…I rarely had the ability to choose for myself."

By the end of the sentence, his smile had vanished.

"You didn't have to live this life; no one forced you," Pema contested. Tenzin shook his head.

"My other option was disappointing everyone, turning my back on my father and the Temple and being a disgrace for abandoning my responsibilities. I didn't want to do that," he said. "I couldn't. It was never a fair and honest choice. It was never my choice and mine alone."

He fell silent. Pema allowed him time before asking, "How does this explain why you don't believe in soulmates?"

"Who decides soulmates?" he posed. Pema frowned.

"I've never really thought about it," she answered. "The spirits, destiny, fate...I don't know."

"Forces beyond our control?"

"Yes, I suppose."

Tenzin squeezed her hands. "I don't want to believe that our life, our relationship, was mere happenstance or something predestined over which we had no choice. I want...I'd rather believe that we choose each other for our own reasons - not only love, but because we thought we could make each other happy, because we had similar hopes for our future, because we respected and admired one another...maybe even for silly things like having the same favorite time of day."

Blinking furiously, Pema scooted over, closing the gap between them. She leaned against his shoulder. Tenzin immediately put an arm around her.

"Pema, I'm sorry, maybe if I explain it differently, it's hard to - "

"No," she interrupted, freeing one hand to dab at her eyes. "No, you explained it just fine."

When she twisted her head to smile up at him, he smiled back, the tight lines on his face smoothing away.

"That's good," he replied. Pema settled her head again on his shoulder, listening to the Temple about them: the subdued talk of the acolytes, the footsteps on the boards, the birdsong and lemur jabbering.

A question crept into her mind. It nagged at her like a loose tooth.

"I do have a question," she said. "If you don't believe in soulmates, than you believe you could be equally happy with any one of a number of people? That there is not one right person to spend your life with?"

"I don't think of it that way. I think that...love is precious. And different each time with each person you fall in love with, because every person is different and you change as well. Having a soulmate seems to imply that every other romantic relationship, past or future, you have is a mistake or a waste of time or just plain wrong. I find that very hard to accept."

"Past or future?"

"I don't believe a romantic relationship is a failure simply because it doesn't last a lifetime. Nor do I think one love should diminish another." He paused and fidgeted with her hand. "If something happened to me, I'd hope you would find love again - someone to love who loves you in return, someone to make you happy - and I wouldn't want your love for him, or his for you, to be any less true or deep than what we have between us."

Pema couldn't form a rational verbal response. Instead, she kissed him.

"Eewww!" Gagging noises broke them apart.

"Jinora, Meelo, Ikki, I see you've finished your lessons," Tenzin remarked as their children came towards them, an acolyte in tow. Tenzin nodded at her. "Did they behave themselves?"

"More or less," the woman replied. "Nothing worth bothering about."

"Thank you, Yen," Tenzin said. She bowed and departed.

"Daddy, can I put this in the box for Aunt Kya?" asked Ikki. She held up a stick-figure drawing with her calligraphy, somewhat crooked and disjointed but legible, along one edge.

"You may," promised Tenzin. He and Pema stood and shepherded the children towards the dining room for lunch.

Secret 5: Tenzin doesn't believe in soulmates

If you're wondering where Rohan is, I imagine there's a fair few acolytes who are quite happy to babysit him and give Pema a break for a couple of hours.

As to why Kya is getting books/magazines/newspapers - The South Pole is still rather isolated and she probably wouldn't have easy access to new publications (or other luxuries). So she has her brother ship her stuff. Stories are great when trapped inside by a storm or during the long polar nights.