Tenzin rolled his eyes and sighed, leaning back with his arms crossed across his chest. He stared at his brother long and hard - the wild-haired United Forces commander sitting nearby, surrounded by his nieces and nephew.
"How many times do I have to tell you that I would rather you not tell the children your tall tales, Bumi? They give them the wrong ideas about how the world works, and I'm fairly certain that gorilla bats can't be trained to fly in formation like that," He tugged at his beard, frustrated at the disappointed groans of his children.
"Come on, dad, you don't have to ruin everything," Meelo grumbled, flopping onto his back to stare upside down at his father.
"Yeah, dad," Bumi joined in, an impish grin on his face, "Besides, gorilla bats are extremely intelligent creatures, if a little bit near-sighted." Tenzin's face remained completely unchanging. The older son of Avatar Aang and Katara snapped his fingers, "I have a story that I'm sure everyone will enjoy. Especially you, brother."
"That is doubtful, but do continue, brother," Tenzin grumbled. The three children all brought their attention back to Bumi, eyes and ears wide open in anticipation of another wild adventure.
"I don't think I've ever told you about the great Battle at Moonbeam Island," Bumi began, stroking his chin, "You see, there was a group of Earthbenders who had taken up residence at Moonbeam Island. They were opposed to the United Republic, you see. A lot of old men who hated to live side-by-side with former Fire Nation citizens who they feel stole their land. They had been raiding supply ships to the island, using them to fuel their efforts to drive out the Firebenders who lived on the island with them. They were considered a fairly ragtag bunch, so they sent me with a small contingent from the United Forces on a single ship to try to reason with them, showing force if absolutely necessary. So in we sailed, coming closer and closer to the shore. As we drew closer, we saw that there was a group of two hundred and ninety three-"
Tenzin cleared his throat, "That hardly seems like a 'ragtag' group on such a small island…"
"Did I say two hundred and ninety three? I meant ninety two. Sorry, sometimes numbers get changed around in my head, anyway-"
Tenzin cleared his throat again, earning a look of scorn from his brother, "Fine, fine, there were about twenty Earthbenders waiting for us on the shore, and let me tell you, they looked angrier than a bunch of hog monkeys with their tails on fire. One by one, they lifted immense boulders, each bigger than your house," he caught Tenzin's look of disapproval and sighed, "bigger than an air bison, and chucked them at the ship!"
Meelo gasped, "Did the Earthbenders on your ship throw them back and squish the bad guys into paste?"
"Meelo! That kind of violence is uncalled for…"
"They tried!" Bumi cried, speaking over his younger brother, "The giant rocks bounced back and forth, back and forth for hours upon hours," he paused for a moment, waiting for Tenzin's interruption, and then continued, "Until finally our Earthbenders were too worn out to continue, and they lost the push-of-war. We hadn't dared push our ship further into shore, and the Earthbenders had hidden allies around that kept flinging pebbles at our Firebenders that tried to interfere. So hundreds of feet from the shore, the boulders crashed into the ship, tearing giant holes through the hull. Water was rushing in from all sides, and we only had one or two Waterbenders on board, and they were quickly overwhelmed. I had to fashion a giant raft using only leftover dumpling wrappers from the mess hall so that me and my men could survive! By the time we reached the shore, with a little help from the Waterbenders providing propulsion, of course, the Earthbenders had retreated into the forest. We searched for days, but we couldn't find a single one. I lost some good men that day, but thankfully our cook had planned on serving a lot of dumplings."
"I think I remember how this story ends," Tenzin interrupted, ignoring Bumi's tales of dumpling wrappers, "You were defeated in the battle, but you called me in to help with the negotiations with the Earthbenders on the island."
"See, I had a feeling you'd like this story once you remembered how it ended," Bumi puffed his chest out proudly, "We were very badly defeated in the battle, but in the end, your father helped prevent a war from breaking out."
"Violence rarely is a good first option," Tenzin said thoughtfully, "Sometimes, however, you must fight to reach your dreams, and sacrifice to make them come true, just as your men did. Those Earthbenders deeply regretted what happened to your crew, if I recall correctly, but they felt that they had no other option. After we arrested the ring leaders who were feeding lies to the people of the island, however, they realized that they had far more in common with the Fire Nation colonists than they might have originally thought."
"And they also discovered that after you turn dumpling wrappers into a raft, it's difficult to use them afterwards, though not impossible… have I ever told you kids about the time I made the world's largest dumpling?"