Author's Note:

This is a story for Day One of Kuvira week on Tumblr :) The prompt was childhood/dreams, and I ran with the childhood idea and combined it with a headcanon I had created at like, 12:05 in the morning. So, here is my entry!

Gaoling in the fall was when it was at its best. The leaves on the trees changed from their bright green to shades of reds and yellows and oranges, and the weather changed from the hot and sticky summer heat to a coolness that was refreshing and simple. The fall months often sparked the end of the tourist season as well, giving the people of Gaoling two season to recover before it began anew.

Kuvira had never been a particular fan of tourist season. There were so many people and the streets were so crowded it was hard for her to get to school on time, causing her to have many tardies during the spring session of school. Of course, the school was more lax during the tourist period, taking into strong consideration the fact that many students had to cross a lot of main streets to get to the building.

The only upside to the tourists was the amount of cash flow that happened. Everyone benefitted financially from it, whether the person was eighty-five or five. The teenagers of Gaoling gave the tours around the historical sights (such as a behind-the-scenes look at the Beifong Estate and a tour of the earthbending ring where Aang and Toph had first met). Kids under the age of thirteen made crafts and sold them to tourists. The adults all ran vending carts and sometimes offered up one of the rooms in their houses as a guest house for tourists.

But whenever the fall crept around, the steady stream of tourists slowly lessened until there were none. Not only was Gaoling more beautiful, but it was also more peaceful, and this was just how Kuvira liked it.

During the evenings after school let out for the day, she would go on walks with her parents and practice her earthbending while her parents looked proudly on. On the weekends, her parents had enlisted her into an earthbending camp where it trained her for four hours on both days. At the camp, Kuvira had been thrown in with the beginners. They were all clumsy fools who thought it was funny to earthbend a small mound up out of the ground and trip the teacher. Kuvira would have none of that, and she quickly rose to being the top student in the class, thus moving her forward to the intermediate class much faster than the others.

By the time she was eight, Kuvira was practicing with kids who were years older than her in one of the top intermediate classes. Despite being significantly younger than them, the other kids respected Kuvira and often encouraged her to keep getting better.

One Saturday, when Kuvira walked into the earthbending classroom, two men stood beside her teacher. They donned typical Earth Kingdom attire, and Kuvira just assumed that they were observing the class to see whether or not they wanted their children to be enlisted in this particular academy.

The teacher, however, seemed unnerved by their presence, and she kept making the students do basic moves that were taught in the beginner's class.

"Have they ever fought against one another?" One of the men asked.

A look of pure horror washed over the teacher's face, and she gaped at the man. "Why on earth would we have them fight? They're only children!"

"So? Never too young," the man said. "Besides, in Ba Sing Se, the Dai Li recruits people as young as five to join."

Kuvira frowned at the name, knowing she had heard it somewhere before, but couldn't quite put a finger on it. She watched out of the corner of her eye as the two men pointed at her, and the teacher responded. Her answer must not have been what the men wanted to hear, because they crossed their arms and the one who had asked the question took a threatening step towards her.

"Get out of my classroom," the teacher finally snapped.

Everyone stopped bending and looked at them. The teacher was pointing angrily at the door, and the two men stared daggers at her before exiting. There was a long silence, and Kuvira watched as a small tear rolled down the teacher's cheek.

XxXxX

When she returned home later that afternoon, Kuvira walked into the kitchen and found the two men from the camp sitting at her kitchen table. They each held cups of tea and were occupying themselves with a game of Pai Sho.

"Who are you?" Kuvira asked. "Do my parents know you're here?"

The men looked up from their Pai Sho game and the one stood. "Your parents aren't here," he said. "They didn't want you anymore, so they sold you to us for fifteen hundred Yuans. You belong to the Earth Queen now."

Kuvira blinked at the men, and then she turned and raced to her parent's room. The drawers were hanging open and stripped bare, and the covers on the bed were gone. All of the family pictures that had been taken were tossed into the fire place, and Kuvira bent down and picked them up. The edges of some of them were burnt while the rest were already burnt so much that she could hardly even tell it had once been a family portrait.

"I told you, kid, they didn't want you anymore," the man said. "Said something like, you're too much trouble and they don't want to deal with it anymore."

"But they were always happy with me," Kuvira stated.

The man shook his head and the other one shrugged. "They told you what you wanted to hear. Now come with us."

"I don't want to."

"You don't have a choice, kid. We own you now."

He reached out his hands to grab her, and Kuvira quickly earthbent a rock and hit him straight in the gut. She threw a rock at the other man's head and quickly jumped out the window. She could hear the men yelling after her, but she didn't stop running.

The streets of Gaoling were mostly empty, considering it was dinner time and most families ate inside. The men were gaining on her, throwing weird hand-like rocks at her to try and slow her pace down.

Kuvira turned a corner and glanced behind her to see if the men were still following her. As she did, she was unable to notice that there was a rather large family blocking her path, and she ran straight into them.

"Hey, watch where you're going."

A young boy's voice ripped across Kuvira's thoughts, and she found herself looking up into the eyes on a boy who looked around her age. He had on circular glasses and one of the strangest outfits that she had ever seen.

"Sorry, I'm being chased."

The boy's expression immediately changed from annoyance to concern, and he glanced behind her. Kuvira could feel the two men running in their direction, and the boy swiftly stepped in front of her.

"Junior, what—what are you doing?" A young woman who donned a similar outfit to him made her way over. By her side, two young toddlers clung to her legs and another younger girl followed her closely.

"Mom, she's being chased by those guys."

By the time his mother looked up, the two men had reached the family. They glared down at Kuvira, and she shrunk farther into the boy's shadow.

"Sorry to disturb you, but we need this girl," the man said.

"Why do you need her?" The mother asked.

The two men exchanged a look as if they were having a silent conversation. "It's highly confidential, ma'am, but I can assure you it's in the decree of the Earth Queen."

The mother's eyes narrowed and she glanced over the men's outfits. After a couple of seconds, she gasped in recognition. "Your Dai Li agents, aren't you?"

The men shuffled uncomfortably and the lack of response confirmed the mother's suspicions. "Well, you can't have her. Because she's coming with me."

"It's by decree of the Earth—"

"I don't care if it's by decree of the Earth Queen or of the Council of Republic City," the mother said. "I won't let you take her."

The men's eyebrows narrowed and they got into a fighting stance. The mother did too, and before anyone could make a move, a man, who Kuvira assumed was her husband, laid a hand on her shoulder.

"Su, don't fight them," he said.

The two men's stances immediately went lax, and they stared at the mother with a mixture of awe and horror. "Su as in, Suyin Beifong?"

The mother nodded, and the two men immediately backed away. "We don't need her. There are others we can grab."

Suyin's eyebrows narrowed, but she didn't press the subject, and the two men quickly walked away. Her eyes then fell on to Kuvira, and she squatted low so she was eye level.

"Hi," she said. "I'm Suyin. What's your name?"

"Kuvira."

"Nice name, kid," she said. "This is my husband, Baatar, and that's our son, Baatar Junior, but everyone calls him Junior. This is Huan, and Opal, and Wei and Wing."

Kuvira's eyes danced between the new family members, and once they were all introduced, her eyes returned to Suyin's gaze.

"Where are your parents? I'm sure they're very concerned about you," Suyin said.

Kuvira shook her head and stared at the ground. "My parents sold me to those men. They don't want me anymore."

Suyin's face was unreadable as she processed the news, but after a couple of seconds she reached out and hugged Kuvira. "Well, I want you to be a part of my family then, if you'll allow it."

"Where do you live?"

"Zaofu. It's a really nice city. It's made entirely of metal. Are you an earthbender?"

Kuvira nodded, and Suyin smiled gently. "Well, then I can teach you earthbending, and once you master it, I can teach you metalbending as well. Would you like that?"

Kuvira nodded again, and Suyin's smile widened. She straightened her posture and clasped a firm hand on Kuvira's shoulder. She then led the way to the train station, with her family and one more following closely behind.

XxXxX

The inevitable day had finally arrived, and Kuvira stared out the mech train's window. It seemed ironic that she and Baatar would be arriving in Gaoling during the same season in which they had first met and she had left it for Zaofu. The vivid colors of fall rushed past her as they made their way to the station. Kuvira vaguely wondered if anyone she had known for the first eight years of her life was still around, and she wondered if any of them would be able to tell her what had become of her parents.

"I'll be with you the whole time, Kuvira," Baatar said.

Kuvira turned away from the window and clasped her hands behind her to prevent them from shaking too hard. Instead, she distracted herself by admiring the new uniform on Baatar. Initially, there had been much complaining about the material being too thin and easily see through, but now it seemed as if Baatar had become much more comfortable with the fabric and its tightness.

"I'll be right by your side," Baatar repeated.

"I don't doubt that," Kuvira said. "Not if I can have my way."

Baatar's lips curled up into a smile. He tipped her chin back and was prepared to kiss her when the train slowed to a stop and the distant sounds of mech train doors being opened filled their ears.

"This is it," Kuvira said.

Baatar nodded and allowed her to lead him to the door. Once they set foot on the ground, they were greeted by loud cheers and applause. The people of Gaoling stood in front of the city. There were many familiar faces in the crowd as well as many unfamiliar, and Kuvira felt a sinking feeling in her stomach when she didn't see any sign of her parents.

As the governor led them through the city, he told them in elaborate details the downfall of Gaoling, and how it had become a trash city once the Earth Queen was assassinated and bandits had free reign. "Without the Dai Li to help control the crime, it was only a matter of time for bandits to realize they could loot any place at any time," the governor said.

Kuvira nodded slowly as she heard but didn't listen to what the governor was saying. She could tell that Baatar knew, because he would cast her worried looks every so often.

"—so then I saw your picture in the paper, and I knew the Earth Kingdom was in good hands," the governor said. "I mean, our own Kuvira running the Earth Kingdom? I almost couldn't believe it. I hadn't seen you for nearly thirteen years and then you stabilized Ba Sing Se. Incredible."

"Thank you, Governor," Kuvira said.

She glanced in the direction of her old home and stopped walking. Baatar and the governor did as well, and she could tell from the look in his eyes that Baatar was struggling with not showing any public affection.

"Governor, if you don't mind me asking, what ever happened to my parents?" Kuvira asked.

The governor's eyebrows knit together in confusion. He clearly had thought that Kuvira would ask a different question, but he answered anyway. "Qing and Lu? I'm sorry, but they died years ago. I thought you had known that."

Kuvira pursed her lips and stared at the ground. She could feel Baatar's gaze on her as well as the governor's. She took a couple of seconds to recompose herself, and when she did, she straightened her back and held her chin a little higher.

"I was not aware of this," Kuvira said. "Thank you for telling me."

The governor nodded slowly, and they resumed walking. The governor slowly began to talk again about the state of Gaoling, and during the whole tour, Kuvira felt a part of her crumble in die inside.