Pema

"air"

- We're so thankful you're home safe.

Pema is the wife of Tenzin and the mother of their four children: Jinora, Ikki, Meelo, and Rohan. She is a non-bending Air Acolyte who lives a serene life with her family on Air Temple Island. She is significantly younger than Tenzin and is kind and compassionate, with a lovely sense of humor. She enjoys spending time with spiritual endeavors and at times feels overwhelmed by her rambunctious children's airbending abilities.

Early life
Prior to 160 ASC, Pema decided to become an Air Acolyte, and during her time on Air Temple Island, she fell in love with Tenzin. However, he was in a relationship with Lin Beifong, which was starting to falter due to their different goals in life. Unable to bear seeing her true love spend his life with another woman, Pema confessed her love to the airbender, who broke off his relationship with Lin. The police chief attempted to put Pema in jail following this, but was unsuccessful. Pema and Tenzin later married and started their own family.

Supporting her family and Korra
When Pema traveled to the South Pole with her family to see Katara and Avatar Korra, she expressed to her mother-in-law her frustration about having only airbender children, as well as her desire for her fourth child to be a non-bender.



Later, Korra journeyed to Pema's family's home and stayed with them for several months in order to complete her airbending training. The impetuous teenager turned Pema's quiet life upside down.

When Korra did not come to dinner one night, a frustrated Tenzin confessed to Pema that he did not know how to get through to Korra. She comforted her husband by telling him that the best thing he could do for Korra at the time was to give her some space.

When Councilman Tarrlok visited Pema and her family at dinner, she gave her husband a look of irritation, but after the waterbender noted that airbenders never send away a hungry guest, Tenzin reluctantly allowed him stay, much to Pema's discontent. She later attended a gala Tarrlok threw in honor of Korra along with her family at City Hall.

While Korra was talking with Jinora and Ikki about how to approach Mako, Pema appeared from behind. Korra asked her how long she had been there, to which Pema replied that it had been enough time to understand the situation. She then told Korra the story behind herself and Tenzin's relationship, and advised the Avatar to be honest about her feelings, as she had been with Tenzin.

Anti-bending Revolution


After Korra escaped from Tarrlok's hideout, she returned to Air Temple Island where Pema welcomed her with a hearty meal. After the dinner, Pema and Asami washed the dishes, and when Mako entered requesting more tea for Korra, Asami seemed angry with him, urging Pema to leave to allow them to talk things over. Later, as the Equalists began attacking Republic City, Pema gave birth to her fourth child, naming him Rohan. The family fled Air Temple Island minutes after the birth, heading to safety away from the city in order to preserve the Air Nomad race.

Pema was later imprisoned by Amon along with the baby, while her husband and children were captured. She was later rescued and reunited with her family, after which they welcomed Tenzin's brother, Bumi. She joined her family and friends in a journey to the South Pole in hopes that Katara could restore Korra's bending, and eventually spectated Korra restoring Lin's earthbending at the Avatar Temple.

171 ASC
Pema returned to the South Pole with her family, this time for the Glacier Spirits Festival. Once Tenzin was relieved of his post as instructor to the Avatar, she traveled with him, their children, and her siblings-in-law to the Southern Air Temple, where she was greeted with great respect. Nevertheless, Pema also was slightly puzzled when Abbot Shung showered her family with gifts and idolized her as mother of the future airbender. After witnessing her daughters childishly arguing over one of the gifts, she sarcastically commented that her children indeed were the "world's next generation of airbenders".



Some time later, Pema was relaxing with Tenzin, listening in as her husband talked with his siblings about childhood vacations. When Jinora and Meelo arrived, Pema noticed that Ikki was not with them. After Pema asked about their sister, the young airbenders reluctantly revealed that they had been teasing her and that Ikki had run away. Pema scolded both children, angrily asking the two why they could not get along better. When Tenzin returned with her youngest daughter the following evening, the rushed over to hug Ikki, expressing her relief over her return. She immediately directed her attention to Jinora and Meelo, sternly asking whether or not there was something they wanted to tell Ikki, forcing them to apologize. A few days later, she witnessed in awe as her oldest son orchestrated a ring-tailed winged lemur air show.

Having arrived at the Eastern Air Temple, Pema was relaxing with Rohan and the rest of her family in the temple's courtyard, until Tenzin arrived and announced their itinerary for the day. Before they could embark on the tour of the temple, Korra arrived, pleasantly surprising everyone. However, as the Avatar recalled the events they had missed by being closed off from the outside world, Pema listened in shock.



Later that day, Pema was surprised to hear her husband confess that he had never been to the Spirit World, as she was under the impression that all the days Tenzin had spent meditating at Air Temple Island meant that he had crossed over before. However, when Jinora revealed her ability to communicate with spirits, telling her dragonfly bunny spirits that it was save to show themselves, Pema was impressed and proud of her eldest child. She remained at the temple with all her children, save for Jinora, while her husband, siblings-in-law, and Korra followed the spirits to a good place for the Avatar to meditate.

Personality


Pema is usually a serene, understanding, and happy person who assists others in their times of confusion or indecision. However, she has expressed her slight annoyance with having children who are airbenders instead of "nice, non-bender[s]" like her. Pema has also admitted that she was once a very shy individual, which seems to have changed since her younger years, given that she was able to confess her love to Tenzin. Ever since, she has grown rather confident and outgoing, openly expressing her feelings to others. In particular, she makes her feelings clear to Tenzin; as such, she clearly showed her annoyance when Tenzin allowed Tarrlok to stay for dinner, or when he and Lin shared a private talk.

Appearances
{{Scroll|

Book Two: Spirits (神靈)
}}

Trivia

 * Pema shares her name with various important Tibetan Buddhist figures, including:
 * The Tibetan Buddhist nun, author, and teacher Pema Chödrön.
 * Gendun Drup, the first Dalai Lama in Tibetan Buddhism, whose birthname was Pema Dorje.
 * The sister of the 14th and current Dalai Lama, Pema Jetsun.
 * She is the first known non-bender to give birth to an airbender.
 * In the Greek dub of The Legend of Korra, Pema is voiced by the same voice actor that provides the voice of Asami.
 * In the Hebrew dub of The Legend of Korra, Pema is voiced by the voice actor who previously voiced Ty Lee in Avatar: The Last Airbender.