Kai and Jinora had made a habit of going on late night flies around the island, and sometimes the city. It had become too difficult to spend time together during the daytime with Jinora busy teaching the new airbenders, and Kai busy attending classes with Tenzin to learn more advanced moves. As they rounded the south side of the island, on their gliders, they noticed a rather fire down on one of the smaller beaches on Air Temple Island. This cove was entirely sheltered by extremely high and extremely sheer walls that would be nearly impossible for one to scale without bending.
"Who do you think it is?" Kai yelled to the wind, hoping Jinora would hear him from her glider behind him.
"I don't know! They're too far away to see clearly!" Jinora replied.
They both dived to a clearing around the cliff, careful to not be seen by the strangers on the beach. They inched their way along the rocks, above the churning water below and crawled along the sand, finding a convenient dip in the beach where they could lay unseen and listen.
"Would you believe it? We're all here again after so many years?" Aunt Kya asked her friends. They peeked over the sand to see Kya and Suyin sitting down on a log putting an arm around Suyin Beifong while Uncle Bumi added a piece of driftwood to the already massive fire.
"I'm surprised our esteemed Chief Of Police didn't throw me in jail!" Suyin replied sarcastically leaning her head in the crook of Kya's arm.
"Well it's not all of us yet," Bumi said looking up at the sky.
"Don't tell me Chief Grumpy pants and Councilman Airhead have joined us-" Suyin groaned.
"No, look!" Bumi pointed up towards the moon. They all turned as a long, thin shadow meandered over the light getting bigger and bigger, until finally reached them on the beach.
"Zumi! What are you doing here?" Kya and Suyin asked both jumping off their logs to run over and hug the Fire Lord as she slid off of her dragon.
"Zumi?" Kai asked Jinora in a whisper.
"SH!" Jinora watched in awe. She never realized her family was so close to the FIRE NATION's ROYAL FAMILY after they nearly wiped out the Air Nomads.
"I heard all of my old friends were back in the city for the first time in what, four decades?"
"Three and a half!" Suyin corrected her, rolling her eyes.
"And I'm surprised to see you're not in jail!" Izumi added to Suyin who merely shrugged and took a seat again on the log by the fire.
"Lin and I, we've patched things up actually," Suyin informed her.
"Really?" Izumi asked, both eyes raising.
"I didn't believe it either until this morning when I saw them hugging!" Kya said with the tone of an ecstatic teenager sharing gossip.
"How sweet!" Izumi cooed taking a seat on the log across from Kya and Suyin so she could face them, and not Bumi.
"I almost forgot how chilly it got on the Island. Would you mind if I... turned up the heat?" Izumi asked.
"By all means go ahead!" Kya said waving to the fire as Bumi slid over to her side and put an arm around her.
"Yes, turn up the heat!" Bumi said flirtatiously. Izumi shoved him with enough to slide him completely off the log and into the sand.
"I really don't need your arm around me, thanks!" She scoffed shaking her head with disbelief as Kya and Suyin giggled. Bumi hasn't changed. Izumi put her palm out to the bonfire and gave it extra fuel, blowing it up into a brilliant blue, sustained blaze. "There, much better, isn't it?"
"Ahhhhh Zumzum, you haven't changed!" Kya sighed with a warm smile.
"So Why are you really back in the city, Zumi? I thought being Fire Lord would be pretty time consuming," Bumi asked.
"Well, Since the Fire Nation is currently in a period of great peace and prosperity, I get to take a few days off here and there. And Lin needed me," Izumi answered.
"Yeah, in the battle against Kuvira," Suyin scoffed, still bothered that the Fire Nation didn't back Lin and Raiko's proposal to engage in a pre-emptive strike against Kuvira.
"As Fire Lord, I simply cannot engage my armies in any more useless wars unless the world is genuinely in danger. The Earth Empire was like a boiling pot of noodles. We knew it would grow, overflow, and bubble over before someone would and put the flame out. Besides, someone had to stay and watch Lin's chil-I mean- estate while she was busy fighting.-" Izumi explained.
"Wait! Were you going to say children?" Suyin asked sitting up, picking her ears out like her mother and casting the extracts into the sand while the dragon leaned over, smelled it, and set it's smoking nose down again.
"Never mind that. It's not my place to explain," Izumi replied.
"She's my sister and I'm a little hurt that she didn't bother to tell me when she had children!" Suyin yelled leaning over Izumi.
"Then ask her about it! She probably didn't want to interrupt your perfectly happy life in your perfect thriving metal city while she swept the streets of Republic City and struggled to even get by," Izumi shouted back.
"But we're rich. She could have hired help-"
"There's more to living and raising children then simply the finances that one can worry about!" Izumi rolled her eyes. "Besides! I didn't come here tonight just to argue! I came to relax. I missed you guys and Lin and Tenzin but if you're just going to interrogate me over something that is not my business to share then I am going to leave!" Izumi said standing up, and heading to her dragon.
"Zumi wait! Sorry, I just- lost myself a little bit. Please stay, I won't pry any futher. I'll ask Lin in the morning," Suyin promised placing a hand on the older woman's shoulder.
"Fine," Izumi said sitting back down on the log she shared with Bumi.
"So why don't you come more often?" Kya asked.
"Yeah! Like during the day when everyone's here?" Bumi added.
"Well the first reason is that I try to hide these mini vacations from the press. I can't have the international stage thinking my decision are biased and partial to any one nation or simply my friends' stances on trade and international relations, and I don't know who I can trust on this island anymore since Aang and Katara left. Secondly, I despise the air acolytes," Izumi said simply, gazing into the blue flames she created and maintained.
"They seem nice enough," Su commented inquisitively thinking back to when she hosted them at her estate in Zaofu after their encounter with Zaheer..
"They were nothing but the Avatar's Fan Club back in the day, and now they've become Tenzin's fan club," Izumi replied.
"Really?" Suyin asked.
"She's kind of right on that one," Kya validated with a sip of her drink. "My mom hated them at first, but grew to tolerate them only because they did accept most of the Air Nomad ways and teachings, and they helped to create somewhat of an immersive experience for Tenzin when the time came."
"But it still wasn't the same. The original Air Nation was comprised of ALL airbenders. It was the only race able to have that purity, somehow." Izumi explained. "Heh! Imagine if everyone born in the Fire Nation was a firebender. We'd all probably be dead by now." Izumi sighed.
"What about the air acolytes keeps you away during the day?" Suyin asked, feeling completely out of the loop since she was sent away at sixteen.
"They're entitled and rude. They boasted about their closeness to Avatar Aang and now they boast about being with Tenzin all day, not to mention one a YEAR younger than my son, broke my best friend's heart and now controls our old home,"
"Pema's not really the controlling type though! Or she doesn't seem to be-"
"You weren't there during the break up. You had already been in Gaoling for what, fourteen years? Lin was thirty-six,"
"Oh, no. By then I'd been pirating, sandsailing, and trained briefly with the Dai Li. Zaofu was already thriving by then,"
"Anyways that earth-kingdom born, baby-faced, infatuated, non-bending, little, peasant fan girl pretty much threw herself at Tenzin every opportunity she had until she one day when she had the audacity to say to Lin's face exactly how she felt about their relationship. She claimed she knew what was best for Tenzin."
"And Lin let the non-bender intimidate her?"
"Of course not. She was more annoyed than anything. She was ready to launch that kid to Omashu. That CHILD, but Tenzin stopped her. Hugged her, calmed her down, tried to tell her that they'd be okay. Then a few short months later, broke it off to be with Pema,"
"But Pema's a kind woman,"
"She's cruel and selfish and had no regard for anybody else's feelings. She didn't care that she was breaking up a family or crushing Lin's heart. All she wanted was the 'Son of the Avatar', and the 'Last Airbender'. Tenzin was just a prize that she show off at high society galas where she didn't belong. She didn't even thank Lin for sacrificing her bending for her unruly pack of hyena-banshees she calls children."
"Did Lin tell you all of those things?" Suyin asked suspiciously.
"No. No, Lin's too good for that. She would never be THAT honest about how she really feels about people, unless you're a criminal in the interrogation room at the Police Station. She cares about Tenzin though, and those kids are an extension of him. I swear, that woman has a heart bigger than Ba Sing Se. It isn't fair, all she's had to suffer through." Izumi sighed.
"Then how did you develop these opinions on Pema?"
"I'm a people person. For six years, I was a representative for the Fire Nation on Republic City's council, before my Father abdicated the throne. I saw Tenzin with the acolyte girl regularly at nearly weekly functions. I saw the girl swell up with child only months after the break up. I saw an article in the paper about the first time their first child sneezed and flew ten feet in the air. She was being praised as a beacon of hope for the world while Lin's children were already learning to fly with gliders made by a mechanical engineer at the Earthen Fire Refinery. When I became Fire Lord, I came to the city, less and less, but was still required to attend annual balls celebrating the end of the 100 Year War. I couldn't believe Tenzin and the Acolyte were foolish enough to bring their children to such events at such young ages. Our parents didn't let us go until we were ten. Would you believe their youngest pissed in the punch bowl. What a band of ill-disciplined imbeciles!"
"I hope you're not ranting about how imperfect Tenzin's children are again," a new voice said joining the group. Everyone jumped. "They're just kids, Zumi. Don't tell me Iroh hasn't pissed where he wasn't supposed to. I've babysat him when he was older than Meelo, and he still made stupid mistakes, but I didn't call him an ill-disciplined imbecile. He was just a really little prince with a lot to learn before he could serve the world in any capacity."
"Lin! You're awake!" Kya exclaimed.
"I couldn't sleep so I went to check on everything to see if it was just worry keeping my head spinning," Lin replied tying the waist band of her coat around her body tightly, sitting on the other side of Suyin, leaning on her baby sister's shoulder.
"Did you find anything?" Bumi asked.
"Jinora and Kai are missing," Lin replied rather calmly.
"Shit!" Kai exclaimed. Jinora elbowed him in the rib.
"Hush up!"
"Won't Beifong see us here with her seismic sense?!"
"Not likely! My Dad once told me of a time when Grandpa Aang, Grandma Katara, Great Aunt Toph, and Great Uncle Sokka were stranded in the Si Wong Desert because Great Uncle Sokka wanted to go to Wan Shi Tong's llibrary, and Great Aunt Toph couldn't see. The shiftiness makes their feet vision blurry!"
"Oh! That's good... I guess,"
"Now Shut up! I am trying to listen!" Jinora hissed.
"Are you going to go after them?" Suyin asked.
"Nah. Let the little love birds have some fun. I doubt Kai will knock her up at this age. They still act so adorably anxious around each other. Personally, I find it rather amusing." Lin said with a warm smile spreading across her smooth features. She looked down at the sand between her toes and pulled her coat around herself tighter. She looked cold. Izumi noticed the fire had become red again and gave it a little more fuel until it was blue and burned hotter and higher.
"So Zumi, hows the house?" Lin asked wearily.
"It's good,"
"They haven't been giving you trouble, I hope."
"Nah. They know it will worry you, so they stay put."
Lin let out a sigh of relief.
"Why didn't you tell us you had children?" Suyin asked with a tone of betrayal shoving her sister off the log and into the sand. Lin jumped up again throwing a fist full of sand into her sister's face.
"Maybe because I was still mad at you? Maybe because I knew you'd be mad at me. You would go crying to Mom who would come lecture me about everything I have done wrong with my life, they you would go tell Kya who would tell Bumi who would every girl in every port he encountered and my reputation would be ruined instantly." Lin replied angrily.
"Whose are they?" Kya asked while Suyin took a moment to consider the truth in her sister's words.
"Whose do you think they are?" Lin replied sarcastically.
"So you and Master Airhead did have a fling-" Bumi said tauntingly, trying to ease the tension.
"It wasn't a fling! We were married! But Aang and the White Lotus- they worried that I wouldn't or couldn't have airbending babies," Lin said explained wrapping her arms around her shoulders tighter.
"Oh Linny!" Suyin said throwing her arms around her sister.
"I always thought Pema-" Kya began to say.
"I don't fear that little spider-snake, but I did fear what Tenzin thought of me. Tenzin and Aang. I didn't want to stand in the way of them rebuilding a nation. I had three earthbending babies, and two too young to be bending, and I wasn't willing to end my career to birth an army. After Aang died, and Aunt Katara moved back to the South Pole to be with Uncle Sokka, Pema 'confessed her love' for Tenzin," Lin shivered. "And the White Lotus convinced us all that it would be best if I left. The air acolyte was only too willing to start a family with Tenzin and unconditionally serve the Air Nation even if that meant breeding like a squirrel-rabbit. So Su, when I said five kids were a nightmare, in Zaofu, I was speaking from experience, because I've been there."
"So are they benders?" Suyin asked.
"Yes! All of them, would you believe it? I have three master earth and metalbenders, and three airbenders."
"Wait! When did the sixth one come along?!"
"Apparently I was one month pregnant when we moved off the island. The White Lotus didn't want anyone knowing about Tenzin's old family in case it hurt Pema's willingness to have airbender babies. So, while their marriage was plastered over every newspaper in the city, I nearly bled to death in my bath tub with a newborn infant." Lin sighed and looked into the fire. "But I love them, and I hate to say this, but I wouldn't change a thing. They seem happy enough. They talk to me every day. And only one has run away," Lin laughed. "but she came back six months later, mostly unchanged." Lin smiled sadly as a tear rolled down her face.
"So Opal is not the only airbending Beifong." Suyin laughed.
Lin chuckled lightly.
"If I didn't witness Harmonic convergence for myself, I would have accused you of sleeping with my man!" Lin said playfully punching her sister on the arm.
"So are we going to get to meet these secret kids or what? I can't wait to test my new airbending on em! They won't know what to do with their Uncle Bumi!" Bumi exclaimed standing up and bouncing on his toes like a mad man, throwing sloppy punches at the cool, night air.
Lin practically roared with laughter now. It felt easier. She felt freer now that her secret was out. Most of the old members of the White Lotus from way back then had died now and there was nothing to fear.
Lin choked at him. "You must be kidding me. Bumi, the youngest is fifteen years old and practically a master airbender already. His airbending sisters are sixteen and eighteen and they would put even Tenzin to shame! I don't recommend you try sparring with any of them. Not yet."
"How did you find trainers for your airbenders if Tenzin couldn't - come over?" Kya asked.
"You remember when I was born on this island, Kya. Tenzin and I were practically inseparable since I came out of my Mom's womb. I know almost everything he knows. Even if I can't bend air, I still remember all of the forms, the philosophies, and the poetry. I remember you being to drunk to pay attention during class most of the time, but I found a lot of it really interesting. Just don't tell Tenzin you know that!" Lin replied.
"I'm surprised our little Linny didn't become an air acolyte!" Bumi exclaimed dancing around the fire place, probably imagining Lin as one of the Airbenders' fangirls.
Lin scoffed. "Please! They lost me at the nonviolent part. How could I be police Chief if I couldn't kick triad ass? And can you imagine me in those awful yellow and red robes?" Lin shivered. "Besides. I still like some amount of finery."
"What finery?" Suyin asked in disbelief "You owns a pretty much nothing except a set of pajamas, dozen identical white tank tops, the same number of identical black pants, and your work uniform," suyin teased.
"Ahem! I have TWO sets of pajamas and TWO coats, thank you very much!" Lin said standing up and spinning around in the moon light like a model on a runway in Ba Sing Se, making her friends laugh.
"I miss the playful Linny," Bumi sighed, wiping tears of joy from his eyes.
"I miss her too," Lin replied folding her coat over herself sitting down again, tired with sad eyes.
"Do you ever wish things were different. That you were still with Tenzin?" Kya asked.
"Or that I never nicked your face and we still both lived in Republic City so our kids could play?" Suyin added.
"No, I don't, actually. I remember Uncle Aang once told me the story of a an old man he and Aunt Katara and Uncle Sokka met in the swamp. They had been having visions. Aunt Katara saw her mom, Uncle Sokka, his first love, and Uncle Aang saw my mother. The swamp bender told them: "in the swamp, we see visions of people we've lost, people we loved, folks we think are gone. But the swamp tells us they're not. We're still connected to them'."
"And what's in the spirit world is that supposed to mean?" Suyin asked.
"It means that even though Tenzin was no longer by my side, holding my hand or keeping me safe and warm at night, he was still with me. And Su, even though we didn't speak, I knew I'd see you again eventually. We were never really apart. I may have ignored your letters, but I had the Zaofu newspaper sent to my house every morning since its' first issue and stalked your every move. If anything really bad happened, I would have stolen Oogi and been down there in a heartbeat," Lin explained.
"Its that easy to steal a bison?" Izumi asked.
"That bison does seem to love you a lot!" Bumi commented pensively.
"That is because that bison is mine. He's pretty stupid, I think. I didn't even have an apple or any food or offering when Tenzin, Aang and I went down to get Tenzin an animal companion. The big fluffy baby didn't even realize I was an earthbender when he shoved his big round head into my stomach. I had to give him to Tenzin because all of the other baby bison rejected him," Lin revealed.
"Aw! Did little TenTen cry?" Kya cooed.
"Yes. I think it was only the third rejection he'd received in his life," Lin replied.
"What were the other two?" Kya inquired.
"Aunt Katara told me when he was born, you frowned and called him ugly and he cried. And the other time was when Bumi told him he was too young to join you guys on a night in the city."
Kya and Bumi found this particularly hilarious.
"At least he had you Linny!" Kya said wiping tears from her eyes.
Even Lin smiled at the memory. "Yeah. At least he had me."
Izumi looked around. "This place used to be our home. We used to spar until near death..."
"... or until a building caught fire and/or collapsed..."
"... climb and, explore, try to invent some form of sport that would incorporate all bending styles..." Izumi listed off in a nostalgic drone.
"Hey! Kya, Zumzu! Remember when we did pro-bending when it first came out?" Lin asked Kya and Izumi.
"Wait! WHEN WAS THIS! Why didn't you tell me?!" Suyin asked jumping to her feet, throwing her arms back, tossing a little sand in the air with uncontrolled, emmotional bending.
"Because you would have told mom in a heart beat because you LOVED it when she was mad at me, so you could ditch school!" Lin replied.
"Gosh! And we had to fake your age since the cut off was sixteen!" Izumi added remembering their adventures to the underground Pro-Bending ring.
"What?! You always said you hated pro bending!" BUmi yelled.
"I did! I still do!" Lin laughed. "I got so many yellow flags for metal bending the grates over the water troughs in frustration. That one Tigerdillo waterbender, Oh he was SO annoying!"
"Yeah, but you thought everyone was annoying at that age!" Kya said in defense of the unnamed waterbender from long ago.
"Yeah!" Lin agreed.
After the laughter died down a bit, Izumi spoke again. "So much around us has changed," Izumi sighed.
"Yeah,"
"I guess now that you know my secret, I could invite you to my fancy house in the hills to meet the family," Lin sighed.
"Wahooo!" Bumi roared before being cut off by something striking his face with enough force to make him stumble backwards, trip over the log, and fall head first into the sand. Everyone looked around before realizing Lin had bent a piece of metal right off of Su's wrist guards and slapped it onto Bumi's face.
"Hush up! You don't want to wake the whole island!" Lin scolded.
Suyin fell off her log bench roaring with laughter, recalling the metal strip to her arm, while Bumi clumsily found his feet again.
"Oh Lin! You never cease to amaze-" Izumi said shaking her head.
"Now, if you will excuse me, I have to go find those kids. Tenzin is completely useless when he's asleep and we all know Pema can't protect them from anything," Lin sighed.
"Lin," Izumi said grabbing her wrist. "You know you can't take responsibility for everyone's safety.
"Jinora and Kai are still citizens of Republic City, and as the Chief Of Police, it is still my responsibility, to an extent to keep them safe." Lin replied placing a hand over the Fire Lord's and removing it from her wrist. She bent up a solid column of earth from beneath the sand and slammed her palm into it and closed her eyes.
"Flaming monkey feathers!" Lin cursed with a sigh. She kicked her foot into the sand launching the two teenagers out from behind their little hiding place, where they had been eavesdropping, to a place right at Lin's feet.
"Hiya Chief Beifong and..." Kai began nervously. "Everyone..."
"Fire Lord Izumi!" Jinora said excitedly. She wanted to ask, if the Fire Lord thought she was an ill-disciplined imbecile as well, but thought better of it. Maybe because she was so quiet, nobody noticed her above her rambunctious little siblings.
"It's been a while," Izumi said plainly.
"How long have you two been there?" Lin asked folding her arms, shifting her weight onto one leg.
"Oh we were just... stopping by! We saw the blue fire and thought maybe Azula had escaped from prison and wanted to make sure everyone was safe and...-" Kai lied poorly.
"Azula is 94 years old, dum dum. She was released from prison three decades ago, and by this age, the can barely heat her own tea." Izumi groaned.
"A while," Jinora confessed looking up at Lin.
They expected an outburst of anger or something, but got nothing no reaction. Lin just looked down at them, her expression unreadable. She was actually really beautiful, Jinora thought, with the bay breeze blowing through her wavy grey hair and her long coat dancing in the fire light, the moon, reflected in her emerald green eyes and making her pale skin shine.
"So, do I really have half siblings? Like you have Su?" Jinora asked hopefully, still laying in the sand looking up side down at Lin.
"Yes," Lin replied.
Jinora flipped herself over with a little puff of air, landing on her knees.
Out of habit, Lin bent every sand particle off the girl's body and out of her hair just like she used to do when her eldest daughter was too young to clean herself with her own earth bending, after scuffles in the dirt of the courtyard of their old house. Jinora looked at her now clean clothes and stood up and hugged Lin before being pried off the elder woman's body.
Lin took both of Jinora's arms in her hands and bent down to look her in the eye. "Next time you want to get away with your little boyfriend, tell me. As long as you don't do anything stupid, and I can tell when you're lying, I can keep Tenzin from prying," Lin whispered bending down to Jinora's level.
The girl's eyes went wide with excitement. She turned to Kai.
"And you!" Lin put her hands on her hips and suddenly became Chief of Police everybody knew. "Break her heart and I would hesitate exiling you to Omashu, or WORSE, Ba Sing Se. I'm sure the Dai Li missed you greatly," Lin said with all seriousness as Jinora giggled.
"Well, I'm off to bed. You kids have fun," Lin said walking towards the cliff side, bending a pillar beneath her to raise her out of the nearly completely inaccessible beach.
"We should all get some rest," Kya said standing up and brushing the sand off of her skirt, with some assistance from Suyin.
"Yeah. Tenzin's gonna drill us on that obstacle course tomorrow morning!" Bumi groaned. "I kind of miss the days when he was so enamored with Lin to pay attention to us."
Kya laughed.
Suyin spoke, "But we did have a lot of fun pushing their buttons."
"You guys were cruel to them!" Izumi yelled shoving both Kya and Bumi's faces into the sand, shocking the two young airbenders.
Kya and Bumi leapt up and returned with water and air.
Kai and Jinora jumped back as Izumi decimated their attacks with a burst of blue flames and red fire in her eyes.
"Are we really going to do this?" Izumi asked with a smile. Suyin turned back to the group with excitement and launched herself over Bumi and Kya taking a place beside Izumi, getting into a fighting stance.
"I got ju Zumzu! Baldy's spawn don't stand a chance!" Suyin said stomping her foot raising seven boulders each twice the size of her at once while Izumi conjured lightening.
"HEY NO SUB FORMS!" Bumi cried.
"Why? Because then I'd just blood bend you all and win?" Kya asked.
"Because I'm not a master yet!" Bumi explained.
"You didn't complain about fighting us fighting with subforms back when you were a non-bender!" Suyin reminded him.
Bumi roared and struck her first, making her drop the boulders, as Izumi fired lightening at him, but he rolled out of the way.
"Should we do something?" Jinora asked Kai, hyperventilating as the ground beneath them began to shake. The old people battled like children, teasing and taunting each other, trying to break one another's concentration. The only difference was in their mastery level bending.
"I'm just enjoying the show," Kai said completely enthralled by the rocks, pieces of metal, bunches of sand, bolts of lightening, blasts of blue fire, funnels of air, hoses of water all clashing with one another.
It was like a dance, they did, as they pranced around the cove. Suyin swiftly chucked the campfire, wood, and logs into the bay with a smooth sweep kick so that nobody would accidentally fall into the pit while they played.
"I'll be Azula!" Izumi yelled firing more lightning and laughing maniacally stumbling towards her opponents while spewing blew fire from her hands and feet.
"And Su! You can be Toph!" Kya called putting out Izumi's fire with a wave of salty bay water, turning to see Bumi make an air blast powerful enough to change the direction of one of Suyin's boulders.
"I AM NOT TOPH! I AM MELON LORD! MWAHAHA!" Suyin laughed evilly. She raised another large rock and Izumi lit it aflame for the younger Beifong to kick towards Bumi and Kya who rolled away. There was a large gust of an unnaturally chilly wind and they all turned.
"What in Raava's name are you guys doing? It's one in the morning!" Tenzin yellled appearing on the beach with Lin behind him, still in her coat and pajamas.
"Shit!" Kai cursed too petrified to move.
"Wait!"
"Sparring like old times and not inviting me?!" Tenzin asked with a smile breaking across his face as he took off his robe, to fight in nothing but a pair of red shorts.
Kai nearly gagged, but Jinora kept watching as Tenzin joined his siblings and Lin removed her coat, and launched herself over Avatar Aang's children to join Suyin and Izumi.
"We can take em! Three on two!" Lin yelled brushing her hair out of her face as Suyin tossed her a metal strip that Lin bent around the base of a pony tail.
"HEY! I'M A BENDER NOW?!" Bumi shrieked with anoyance.
"But you're not a master," Lin replied with a devious smirk.
"I can still fight!" Bumi roared.
"Okay, three on two plus Bumi!" Lin corrected, further enraging him.
And they all struck at the same time with a massive explosion. On one team, two air benders and a waterbender, and on the other, two earthbenders and a fire bender.
"Maybe we should go, now. I kind of don't want to get struck by a stray bit of lightening!" Kai said nervously. Just then a boulder slammed into the wall, inches from the tip of Jinora's hand.
"Right behind you on that!" Jinora yelled as the two jumped ledge to ledge, out of the little cove. When they reached the top of the cliff, they realized why then the adults had chosen that particular beach. The crashing waves on the rocks flanking the cove, and the wind of the ocean, drowned out all activity on the beach completely. Even the explosions and lightening and the boulders were inaudible. They watched for a few more minutes as the fight only intensified, before deciding it would be best to just go inside and forget all that transpired that evening.
So the first refined version (that I was happy about) was lost when I tried to save it and the page refreshed AND logged me out instead of saved. So, this is the second refined version that I don't quite like as much, but can't remember how exactly I phrased the first version. I know I made Izumi sound a bit bitchy in this, but I wanted to show that she is not the "perfectly diplomatic Fire Lord" she has to be with Raiko, and the other world leaders. Only with her closest friends does she (and Lin, for that matter) let down their walls and speak openly and freely. Only alone, in the night, can they be honest about their true feelings, hates, loves, and pet peeves. I wanted more Izumi, and a battle with all four elements (and not the Avatar) and some sort of reunion with the Gaang's children without Bataar or Pema or anybody else ruining anything. The secret children mentioned in the story are from my other story, 'Lives Forgotten' and this is kind of just an 'alternate version' of how they world eventually learns about them. I don't think I will continue it. I think I will consider this my first attempt at a One-Shot. Maybe it is too long for a one-shot. PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW IF YOU HAVE TIME! I would love to hear what you think, and what I can improve, or how you would have preferred it all happen, or suggestions for more FanFics about the this generation: Kya, Bumi, Tenzin, Lin, Suyin, and Izumi :)))) Have a great day!