(3rd Person P.O.V.)

A reserved, young girl by the age of seventeen sat under a tree. She was sketching out the scene in front of her: A family eating on a bench; a water fountain modeled like the city's founder, Suyin BeiFong; a group of young boys playing a game that involved earth bending; and two young girls taking a walk and talking.

This girl went by the name Zafrina. She had silky, long, dark brown hair and tanned skin. Zafrina had lived in Zaofu with her family since she was born. She was lucky enough to inherit earth/metal bending powers from her father, unlike her mother who was a nonbender. Her grandmother lived with them ever since her husband died when Zafrina was six years old. Zafrina had no siblings, but she wished she did.

Zafrina's father worked as a policeman on the police force in Metal City, while her mother worked in a small restaurant and her grandmother stayed home. Zafrina's eighteenth birthday was just three days away. She didn't want to do anything special, but her father surprised her.

(Huan's P.O.V.)

I was out in the courtyard, building some structures out of metal, when my mother, Su, came walking through with my father, Baatar Sr. and one of the policeman from the force who occasionally guarded my home; tonight being one those 'occasions'.

The trio were chatting noisily and laughing loudly. It kept distracting my train of thought, thus resulting in me to bend the metal left instead of right.

"Urgh… Mother, father, could you please be a bit quieter?" I glowered at them. Mother sighed.

"Well I'm so sorry," she said sarcastically.

"Aoi, you remember my son, Huan, right? You met him when he was just a toddler. I'm sure you've seen him wandering around."

"Yes, yes," the man in metal armor chuckled in a deep voice. "You've gotten quite tall. How old are you now?"

"Eighteen," I mumbled

"Oh! My daughter, Zafrina, is turning eighteen in a few days time. It's crazy to think that just yesterday she was learning how to bend," Aoi chuckled solemnly.

"I know exactly how you feel." My father patted him on the shoulder.

"I remember Zafrina. The last I saw of her was when she was ten! How is she and your wife?" Mother asked Aoi.

I tried to continue my sculpting, but failed due to me listening in on their conversation.

"They're all just fine. Zafrina's been quiet as usual. Kim is acting as spunky as ever. I don't know how Zafrina's our child; we're both too loud and crazy to be her parents!" Aoi laughed. Mother and father laughed along with him. Suddenly, mother had her 'I-got-an-idea' face.

"I've got it! How about you bring your family over on Zafrina's birthday and we can all have a big dinner and have desert, hm?" Mother offered.

I shot mother a look saying 'No! Are you kidding me?!' She knew ignored my glaring expression and just smiled mockingly.

"That is very generous of you, but I must decline. I don't want to intrude," Aoi explained. I sighed internally.

"But we insist! We'd love to have you over," father said. I groaned.

"Are you sure?"

"Positive," mother stated.

"All right then, great, thank you. I'll have my family over at sundown in three days."

"Perfect!" Mother beamed. I groaned again and hung my head. Mother walked over and whispered: "I think you'll like this girl. She's a lot like you."

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever," I grumbled, then continued my work.

(Zafrina's P.O.V.)

It was the day of my birthday, and no one made a big surprise, thank goodness. I was back from the market with a few bags of groceries when father entered the house.

"Hey, Zafrina! Be ready before sundown, we're having dinner with the BeiFongs," father rushed. I dropped the bags, causing the apples to roll out and a small melon to split in half.

"What? You promised you wouldn't do anything big for my birthday!" I exclaimed.

"Who said the dinner was for you?" father said. I glared at him.

"Okay, yeah, it's for you."

"Dad-"

"Look, it's your eighteenth birthday. This is special to your mother and me." My father placed his hands on my shoulders. "You're not my little girl anymore…"

"Dad," I groaned. "Look, I appreciate what you're trying to do, but-"

"No buts'. Su BeiFong and her husband Baatar Sr. invited us personally. Su wanted to do it for your birthday. You remember her, you were ten when you met her," father explained.

"Ergh… Fine," I sighed.

"Good! Now-"

"Ah!" My mother came from the hall. "What is this mess?!" she shrieked. "Clean it up, now."

"Okay." I bent down and picked up the bags.

"Not you, honey. I meant your father. You need to get ready for an important dinner," mother beamed.

"You knew about it, too?!"

"Yes, so does your grandmother. She's getting ready. Now c'mon, you need to get washed up and dressed." Mother pulled me into the washroom.

After half an hour, I was ready for this 'supposed' important birthday dinner. My hair was pulled into a bun with two sections of hair framing my face. I had on a long, satin, pale-green dress that had long, loose sleeves and a high collar. Mother placed some rose dust on my cheeks, and nothing else after I refused any more face paint.

Mother was dressed in a dress like mine, except the green was as shade darker and she had no sleeves. Her dark brown hair was pulled back into a long braid, and had more face paint than me. Grandmother was dressed in a very dark green dress that had long sleeves and a collar, too. Her gray hair was braided and pulled back into a bun- which had a green, studded clip on the side. Father wore a traditional suit that was the same shade as mother's dress.

"You look beautiful." Mother teared up.

"Mother, don't cry," I tried consoling her.

"I'm sorry; you're just so grown up." I chuckled at her words.

"Thanks."

"Here," my grandmother handed me a small box.

"Hm?" I quirked my head.

"It was mine, but now it's yours." I opened the box to find a silver hair clip with a glass, pink lily with a glass leaf on each side of it. I gasped.

"Grandmother…it's beautiful. Thank you." I hugged her.

"You're welcome. Now put it in," grandmother ushered.

Mother reached and helped me put it in my bun.

"Does it look good?" I meekly asked.

"Wonderful," my father smiled. "We must be going now, or we'll be late."

"You can get your present from your father and me afterwards," mother said. I nodded.

After going past the security guards, we walked up to the big double-doors. Father pressed a button on a speaker contraption. It buzzed.

"It's Aoi Satoshi," my father spoke. I stood behind my parents, a bit nervous. The big doors opened.

"Aoi! So nice to have you." Baatar Sr. gripped my father's hand in a shake, followed by a hug.

"Thank you for having us."

"My pleasure. Please, come in," Baatar stood aside and gestured for us to come inside.

My grandmother and parents went in, I trailed slowly behind them. I'd never been in the BeiFong home before; it was so big and luxurious. Baatar Sr. led the way, where we went right, down a hallway. We then stopped in front of double-doors, averaged size this time. Two guards stood in front of them.

"'Evening," my father nodded, most likely knowing them. They nodded back. Both of them opened the doors; I heard chatter suddenly stop.

"Aoi! Kim!" I heard a light voice call.

"How nice to see you! And you too, Hazel," the voice spoke to my grandmother. Everyone one walked into the room, the guards shut the doors behind us.

"Where's Zafrina?" I heard the voice ask. I still kept my head down and stood behind my father's tall figure.

"Zafrina, come now, no need to be shy," father chuckled lightly. I stepped out from behind him and looked up.

"Um… Hello," I smiled weakly to Su.

Her family stood behind/beside her. I saw a girl, probably sixteen or seventeen, with short, brown hair and bright green eyes standing on one side of Su. It was Opal, from what I've been told before. A young man, who looked just like Baatar, stood behind him. Then a pair of twins stood behind Opal, smiling with excitement. And a guy, about my age maybe, stood with a blank expression staring off into space.

"Look how much you've grown!" Su came up to me and hugged me, I hugged back.

"Would you all like a seat? Dinner will be ready shortly," Su explained. My family and I sat down on one green couch, while Su, her husband, and Opal sat. Her sons stood.

"Zafrina, this is Opal, my daughter."

"Hi," she waved. I nodded to show I acknowledged her.

"This is my husband, Baatar Sr., which I'm sure you already know. This is Baatar Jr." Su looked back at the young man behind her, who looked just like Baatar Sr. I gave a small smile.

"This is Wei," Su gestured to one of the twins whom gave me a big smile, "and this is Wing." The other twin did the same. I smiled to them, too.

"And this here is Huan." The guy she gestured to was tall and lanky. He had long, very dark brown hair, but half his head was shaved. His hair covered his right eye. He had an eyebrow piercing in his left eyebrow. Huan gazed over at me, then looked away.

"Anyway," Su tried to get rid of the awkward silence. "How are things for you, Zafrina?"

"Just fine," I said. More silence.

"So, I remember you telling me Opal gained airbending abilities?" My father piped up.

"Oh, yes, it's really exciting," Baatar Sr. said.

"Yeah! Avatar Korra is supposed to be here and help me with airbending soon!" Opal exclaimed with bright eyes. With this, I was slightly intrigued.

My parents, grandmother, Su, and her family started to get into conversations. They were discussing things, like about the somewhat recent event of the Harmonic Convergence, the new airbender population, and whatnot. I sat quietly, though, along with Huan who stood motionless.

I tried to look around the room and not make direct eye contact with anybody. These were all nice people, but honestly, I just wanted to go home and draw.

(Huan's P.O.V.)

Everyone else talked except for the Zafrina girl and me. To be honest, she was…different. I haven't even talked to her yet, but I'm already intrigued. She's quiet and reserved. That and she's very pretty. Wait, what? Ugh… What I meant was she seems mysterious. She seems different from others…

Zafrina must've sensed me looking at her, because she looked up at me with her pale blue eyes. Her face reddened and she looked away. I felt my own face flush and looked away, too. I glowered at my feet, a bit upset at myself for being distracted by some stranger.

There was the opening of one of the doors. In which my mother's advisor, Aiwei, entered.

"Dinner is ready, Mrs. BeiFong," he said.

"Thank you, Aiwei," mother said. "Aiwei, I believe you've met Aoi already. This is his family; his wife Kim, his mother Hazel, and daughter Zafrina."

"Hello, nice to meet you all," Aiwei bowed slightly.

"Aiwei is my advisor," mother told the guests.

"Well let's go eat now," father said. Everyone happily complied and followed Aiwei to the dining room. My family and Zafrina's family took lead, except for my twin brothers, Zafrina (sort of), and I. Wing and Wei stood on either side of me while Zafrina walked in front of us.

"She's cute, eh?" Wei nudged me and he and Wing chuckled. I rolled my eyes at their immaturity.

When entering upon the dining room, my mother and father took their seats at the head of our oddly shaped table. My brothers, sister, and I sat on one of part of the table, while the Satoshi's sat at the other table facing us. Aiwei took his place next to Aoi. The waiters automatically came out of the kitchen with dishes of food and sat them on the surface of the connected tables like they typically would.

"Hem-hem," mother coughed. "I'd like to make a toast." She and the rest of us grabbed our glasses and raised them.

"I'd like to make a toast to Zafrina," she started. "You, Zafrina, are a very wonderful, beautiful young woman. I know we have not talked often, but I know you'll do something good with your future. You only turn eighteen once, so let us celebrate. To Zafrina."

"To Zafrina," I chorused along with everyone else.

(Zafrina's P.O.V.)

"To Zafrina," I heard everyone say.

I nodded in appreciation for Su's small speech. She responded with a smile. I looked down at my plate to see bits of pork- covered in a brown sauce with a variety of vegetables and rice on the side. Once trying a bite, it was very exquisite. It must be nice to eat like a king/queen every day.

"This is very delicious, I must pay my compliments to the chef," my father commented. My mother and grandmother nodded in agreement. Baatar Sr. chuckled.

"Yes, he is very talented in his work."

"So, Zafrina, how's it feel to be eighteen now? It must be so nice, I can't wait until I'm eighteen," Opal said to me.

"Oh… Well, it's okay, I guess. I mean, it's nothing extravagant. At least to me, it isn't," I finished quietly.

"Are you kidding me?! Wing and I are turning eighteen in just a couple of weeks, and we can't wait!" Wei exclaimed.

"Yeah! Once we're eighteen, we'll be able to do a lot of more things without our parent's permission," Wing said smugly.

"And who said that?" Su raised an eyebrow. Everyone began laughing. After the laughing died down, father spoke up again.

"Baatar Jr., Huan, you're both at least eighteen or older, right? Perhaps you could try talking to Zafrina about different career options, or give her advice on the importance of becoming an adult." I groaned under my breath, not wanting to deal with this.

"Well it's very nice, to have more freedom as you become older, but it's certainly not easier, either. You're expected of a lot more, too. More responsibilities to deal with. And-" Baatar Jr. was cut off by Huan.

"What do you mean by 'more responsibilities'? You're twenty-one years old and still stay home. I don't see you doing anything impressive or important with your life."

"Hey! I've been working with dad on architecture and plans for the city and possibly an expansion. But what about you, hm? All you ever do is build your useless sculptures and sulk around!" Baatar Jr. retorted.

"Hey! Both of you. That. Is. Enough." Su stood up and slammed her hands on the table. "You both know better than to act like children. And here you are, going at it like your Ant Lin and grandmother would, in front of guests! I expected more from the two of you," Su finished angrily.

"I'm sorry, mother, I should've known better," Baatar Jr. apologized.

"Sorry, mom…" Huan mumbled.

"Thank you," Su said. She then turned to my family and me. "I'm so very sorry. This was meant to be a nice celebration for you, Zafrina," Su directed to me.

"It's okay, really." I raised a hand in understanding.

After finishing dinner and dessert with no more quarrels, Su offered to show us around the courtyard and garden. My mother was very eager about that. As we walked through the gigantic courtyard, we came across a corner of it filled with sculptures made of metal. Were these the ones Baatar Jr. was talking about earlier?

"This is where Huan works on his sculptures," Opal said. I looked at the different sculptures, a bit fascinated by the creative idea of using metal for art. I have seen others do the same, but Huan's was…different. It stood out to me more than the others, neither in a bad nor good way. Just unique.

I hadn't realized that the group walked ahead until I heard someone clear their throat. I whipped my head around to see Huan standing there with his hands behind his back; giving me a curious look. I awkwardly cleared my throat and wiped away the imaginary dust on my dress.

With no words being exchanged, we went ahead and caught up with the group. Huan and I made no more eye contact nor spoke to each other directly for the rest of the evening. I don't know what it was, but there was something that was between Huan and me.