It was a storm for the record books, all of Republic City was buzzing in the wake of the snowstorm that had buried the entire city in fluffy white powder. While it snowed yearly, it had never snowed this much, this fast. Businesses were shut down, schools were closed, transportation had been cancelled and the entire city and been asked to stay home until the snow could be cleared from the streets.
Which meant that every soul, no matter their age, was outside in the snow filled streets playing in the powder. Parents were playing with their children; the children were running with their family and friends, and the water-benders were using their unfair advantage to win most of the snowball fights in the city.
Air Temple Island was no exception, and while the airbending kids were no longer babies, Jinora had recently turned twenty, Ikki was a lively seventeen year old, Meelo was fifteen and dealing with the issues of puberty, and Rohan was ten, but acted much older as his grandmother said his father once had, all four of them were out in the snow. It was interesting to watch all four bend the snow at each other, flinging snowballs with such ferocity that they'd be knocked over for a good few minutes until they got right back up to fight each other.
At least until a massive bank of snow collapsed on all four of them from nearly nowhere. They popped out easily, but with wide surprised eyes until the culprit leapt off of the roof and air-bent herself back into the snow.
"Korra!" Ikki yelled loudly. "Not fair, you can water-bend too!"
"All's fair in love and war!" Korra replied and bent another pile at her, making her flip up to air-bend out of the way. The battle continued with more intensity with the addition of the fifth member, the two brothers teaming up while their sisters fought solo against the Avatar. Korra and Mako had come to the island when the city had virtually shut down, using Naga to get to the bay and Korra had water-bent to get them over to the island without much hassle.
"Don't make that face." Pema laughed lowly, looking up at her husband who was making his infamous scowl. "They're allowed to relax, even at twenty and twenty-seven."
"I said nothing."
"You don't have to say it, Tenzin." Pema looped her arm through his and leaned her chin on his shoulder. "They work hard more days than not, Korra has grown in ten years, she's allowed to have fun."
"Ma!" A screaming voice came from behind them and they both turned. Mako was grinning, walking forward with his son on his hip. Little Ryu was getting big, he was walking, although unsteadily, but he currently wanted his mother as she played in the snow.
"Has she cheated and decimated them yet?" Mako asked as he looked out where his wife was laughing brightly in the snow. He grinned at her, the older couple exchanging smiles.
"Not yet." Pema held her arms out and took Ryu into her arms. Despite carrying four children and being perfectly content to keep that number steady at four, she did miss having a baby around sometimes. Especially now that Tenzin was preoccupied with keeping Jinora very far away from a certain boy from the city. "Go if you want." She grinned when Mako let out a grin, caught that he wanted to go play in the snow with his wife.
"Thank you, you're alright with him?"
"Of course." Pema cuddled the little boy close. "He's precious."
"That he is." Mako agreed and leapt off of the porch and into the midst of the battle, using his fire-bending to immediately block one of Jinora's larger attacks on his wife.
"Well thank you." Korra gave him a saucy grin as the snow war continued. It merged into the four siblings versus the Avatar and her policeman husband, a fairly even matched battle when you took their ages into account. But when the siblings started working together they started to make progress, getting more shots at Korra and Mako than they had before.
Pema had to set Ryu on his feet after a little; he was just too big to carry for too long. "Ma." Ryu pointed out at the snow battle going on before him, pointing to his mother.
"Mama's busy." Pema knelt with him.
"Da?" Ryu frowned as he asked for his second parent.
"Daddy's with Mama." Pema smiled and reached for him, but the little boy didn't give her a second to grab him as he bolted off the porch and toward the battle. "No! Tenzin, stop them, they could hurt Ryu!"
"Stop!" Tenzin's booming voice halted the battle in a second, all six of the younger people freezing instantly.
"Ma!" Ryu's voice cut into the stunned silence and Korra easily scooped him up into her arms when he got to her.
"Oh, you want to play too?" She laughed and hugged him close.
"Lucky." Meelo came over toward Korra. "We almost had you beat."
"Did not." Korra snorted. "We would've beaten you."
"Unlikely." Jinora smiled and came over, the battle clearly over. "The advantage was on our side. It was a clever strategy to have your son interrupt our battle to save you a loss."
"No." Ryu answered before either of his parents and wiggled until Korra put him on his feet. He giggled and started to throw the snow up into the air, toward his parents.
"Our third member is here!" Mako announced and grinned, bending down and picking up some powder and tossing it toward his son who promptly released a scream of delight when it landed on his coat. The battle continued from there on the smaller scale, Korra show Ryu how to crush the snow into little balls and throw them at their opponents. He screamed with delight at the snow and how he was doing well before simply charging Rohan and tackling him into the snow.
The battle ceased again as Rohan played along with Ryu, letting him tackle him before moving onto his mother. Korra let herself be tackled into the snow and gathered her son in her arms. Her legs bent at an angle and sat him on them facing her, grinning as he giggled happily. Mako laughed and came over, wrapping his scarf around their son's neck to keep him as warm as possible. "Thanks." Korra looked up at her husband as he knelt next to her. The four airbender kids had moved over to another part of the courtyard to continue their battle, the missed shots slamming into the closed shutters of the air acolyte's quarters.
"This is his first snow, isn't it?" Mako grinned at their son as he reached up to touch the fresh snow that had just started to fall.
"First one he remembers at least." Korra smiled. "You can go play with them, I had my turn."
"One fire-bender against four airbenders? I don't think I can." Mako laughed at the siblings whipping snow at each other, holding nothing back. Despite being a full ten years older than him, Jinora was having to work hard to keep up to prevent Rohan from hitting her with his well placed attacks. "You can only get so far melting attacks, we're a better team." He grinned at Ryu when he yawned. "Too much fun, little guy?"
"Wore him out." Korra laughed, rubbing his little back with her hands as she held him in her arms. "Maybe he'll have a good nap."
"Probably." Mako helped her to her feet and they went for the house to put him down. "You know, if we get him down…"
"We can claim our victory?" Korra grinned up at him with a mischievous smile. "They didn't see the roof attack the first time, they won't see it the second."
"Perfect." Mako laughed and followed her over to their room, what had been Korra's room when she lived there, to put Ryu down for his nap. Instead of taking the scarf from him, he tucked it around his son to let him sleep with it. It never failed to make his heart clench with pure love for the little boy when his son turned his face into the scarf as he went to sleep, comforted by his father's scent.
"Hey." Korra pulled Mako's sleeve and they slipped out of the room together. "Alright?"
"I just love him." Mako grinned and leaned in to press a light kiss to her lips. "I love you."
"I love you too." Korra smiled up at him. "Now let's go kick their butts."
"Yes ma'am." Mako laughed and followed her to the windows where they climbed out to cross the roofs, splitting up and perching on opposite buildings.
Focusing on the snow around her, Korra lifted up as much as she could and hovered it over the siblings, making four separate piles to bury each one. She leapt from her roof and rejoined the fight while Mako stayed hidden, melting as many attacks as he could until he was caught, leaping in to finish the snowball fight on the ground.
Tomorrow the snow would be mostly cleared by water and fire-benders who worked for the city, but today, on their Snow Day, they could just have fun, participate in friendly competition, and be together as the large, blended family unit they were.