Manami still could not approach the one boy that she always wanted to talk to, but always ran from. Just as her father had given her the candle section and a half of free time so that she could talk to him, she still ran. She was currently hiding in a dark, hidden away section of the temple that she always went to to hide from the boy. Her heart was thudding in her ears, and she could not breathe at a normal speed yet. This may have been why she didn't hear his wheels over the cobblestones as he effectively cornered her.
"Why did you run?" His voice from behind startled her. She whipped around, and finding herself trapped, slid down the wall and curled into a ball.

"I – I can't tell you." She murmured quietly. Teo wheeled his chair closer to her, to try to comfort her.
"Why not?" he asked gently.
"It's . . . complicated." She whispered, nearly hard to hear now. He reached his hand out and put it on her shoulder, which she immediately stiffened at. Dismayed that such a lovely girl would not feel comfortable with his touch, he removed his hand. Manami had been looking for an opening to flee as soon as she could, and his moving closer did provide that opportunity.
"I'm . . . I'm sorry." She said as she slid between the back of his chair and the wall, fleeing once again. She did not see him look after her fleeing form and slump down in disappointment.

"Mom? Can I ask you something?" Manami asked as she walked into the separate quarters that the pregnant woman had, away from her husband and Manami's father.
"Sure baby, what's on your mind?" Sarasri pulled her daughter closer to her side, inviting her to sit next to her on the bed. Manami did so, and bowed her head, because it was a tough thing to talk about.
"Well, there's this guy I like – "she started, when her mother interrupted.
"Oh is this that cute boy with the lovely green eyes?" she asked her daughter with more than a little hope in her voice.
"Um, no, mom. He has grey eyes, like me. I think. But I don't know how to talk to him. I'm so dreadfully shy that I can't think when he's around." Manami blushed furiously at this.
"Aw, honey, you can't live your life running from your feelings. Maybe he's just as shy as you are, and you don't know it yet." Sarasri hugged her daughter. "So how tall is he?" she gushed.
"I – I don't know mom, he's in a chair every time I see him." Manami stuttered. She knew her mom would not like that the boy was crippled. Sarasri blinked a few times, thinking why the boy would be in a chair so often.
"Would this boy be the son of the temple's leader?" She asked her daughter with trepidation. Manami's only answer was folding in on herself. Knowing this to be a yes, Sarasri sighed. "I know it can be tough to show interest in a boy." She rummaged around in a bag by her side and pulled out a long cloth parcel. "Here, practice this for a while, maybe he'll come up to you, and start talking to you first. It's my great grandmother's flute – "she grinned "it helped me win over your father." Manami gratefully took the flute and left her mother to rest.

Finding another secluded spot hidden away in the temple, Manami pulled out the flute. It was lovely, carved of bamboo, inlaid with a shiny opalescent shell, and polished to a high shine. Putting the mouthpiece to her lips, Manami tentatively blew a few notes. Some of them sounded off, so she tried changing where her fingers were, and noticed that the notes changed wonderfully when she did so. Smiling to herself, she slowly started learning all the notes of the flute, and thought of ways to string them together. She became so enraptured in the notes that she was playing, that she did not notice Teo come up behind her and listen to her flute playing. At one pause, he nearly opened his mouth to speak, but she started playing again, a lighthearted tune, that reminded him of gliding among the clouds. Getting lost in her song, he barely noticed when she stopped, and grinned.
"Reminds me of him . . . whenever I find out what his name is, I'm going to call that his song." She said wistfully. Hearing the longing in her voice raised Teo's spirits just a little.
"Teo." He said. Once again, Manami whipped around, startled by his voice.
"What?" she asked, somewhat fearfully.
"My name is Teo. What's yours?" he asked, gently, almost as if she were a scared rabbit-squirrel that he was trying to tame.
"Ma – Manami." She told him. "How . . . how did you know? That I meant you, I mean." She asked, tentatively, as she slowly started to relax.
"I don't know, it just reminded me of how I feel every time I glide amongst the clouds." He admitted almost shyly. Manami offered a shy smile.

"Is . . . is it pretty? Up there, I mean?" she asked, blushing. She didn't see the flush spread like wildfire across his cheeks as he thought of taking her up in his chair with him.
"Yeah, it's pretty nice. I can think of one way it could be prettier though." He whispered the last part. Manami barely heard it, but didn't say anything about it. She hid her blushing cheeks behind a curtain of her long auburn hair. A long silence stretched between the teens.
"Would you like to see it?" Teo tentatively asked, trying to break the silence. Manami could feel the flush in her cheeks deepen, and folded in upon herself. Teo's face fell though, not knowing that as far as she'd folded in, that she was incredibly pleased and excited to go. He turned slowly, intending to leave, when Manami's head shot up again.
"Don't go. At least . . . not . . . without . . . me?" She drifted off, after calling after him. He turned back around with a smile on his face, and Manami blushed again. "I'd love to see it." She smiled at him. In absolute excitement, he kicked up a 'wheelie' and rolled back over to where she stood. She slowly extended her hand, still covered by her long, flowy sleeve. Teo reached up inside the sleeve to take her hand, and lead her over to the gliding platform.
"I don't know how to use the gliders yet." She told him, biting her lower lip.

"Not a problem." He replied with a mischievous smile before he pulled her by the hand into his lap. Manami's cheeks flared bright red, and did not ease off, but got a little darker when she yelped as he rolled right off the edge of the platform. Looking over at her, Teo laughed.
"You can't see what it's like with your eyes closed like that." Manami opened her eyes to find out that she'd clutched at his shirt and buried her face in his chest. She tried straightening up, but the wind blew her back against him. With their faces mere inches away, they both blushed. Manami looked away first, and noticed just how high up they were.
"Wow . . . we're even above some of the clouds." She whispered in awe. "They're so pretty." She added when Teo didn't say anything.
"I can think of something prettier." He murmured. Manami looked at him again, only to be surprised when he leaned forward and kissed her. She froze, not knowing what to do. He pulled away, and looking a little sad, looked down at the clouds.
"I'm sorry . . . I didn't . . . I've never been kissed before." She said softly. "I didn't know what I was supposed to do." She looked up at him again. He slowly looked back at her, and this time, she leaned towards him. They kissed softly; almost afraid of what would happen.

They drifted for a while among the air currents, not even talking, just enjoying the scenery – Manami for the first time, and for Teo, it was almost like the first time all over again. It wasn't until the sun hit Manami's eyes that she remembered her promise to her father.

"Oh no, I forgot! I should have been home by two o'candle! My dad is going to be so mad!" she cried in distress. Wordlessly, Teo landed and Manami took off like a shot.

"Wait, I can get you there faster!" he called after her, trying to get the glider off of his chair. She kept running though, and was halfway there when he caught up to her. He didn't say anything, just pulled her back onto his legs and sped down the hallways. She blindly clutched at him, terrified of what her father would say.

Tsuyo was standing with his crutches outside of the doorway to their living space when Teo skidded to a stop. He looked upset and just about yanked Manami away from the boy.

"I'm so sorry dad, I lost track of time. There isn't a set of candles in the sky . . ." Manami tried to explain to her dad, but he wouldn't listen.

"Get inside, young lady." He told her quietly, but angrily. As Manami fled, she glanced at Teo with a look of apology on her face. He returned a look of sorrowful understanding before turning to her father.

"Sir, I'd like to offer my apologies. It was my fault that Manami was out so late." He offered with as close to a bow of respect as he could offer.

"And just what were you doing with my daughter for so long that she couldn't return to assist her poor crippled old man?" Tsuyo demanded. Teo looked a little taken aback by this. He'd lived with being unable to walk since before he could remember, and this man was complaining that he didn't have both legs.

"We were out gliding, but if you're interested, my dad could probably do something for your leg, if you really want." He offered. Tsuyo scoffed.

"No one can fix this, I'll be stuck hobbling around like an old cripple forever." He sneered. The annoyance started to show on Teo's face.

"At least sir, you can stand. That's more than I can do." He told the man before turning around sharply and wheeling away. Tsuyo thought about this for a moment, and the shock of realization passed over his face. He slowly limped his way back into their living quarters and back to his favorite chair. Hisao was peeking around the corner of the hallway where he and his sister slept. The look on his face told Tsuyo that Manami was crying on her bed again.

"Tell your sister I want to see her." He told his son gruffly. Hisao disappeared quickly. After a few minutes Manami crept in, sadness and pain etched on her face.

"Yes, dad?" she asked quietly.

"I don't ask you for much, just to be here when I need you. Your mother can't do the work that she usually does, and I can't do any work at all. The least you can do as our oldest child is to be here for us and do what we need you to do." He told her.

"Yes sir." She replied even quieter than before.

"And stop hanging around that boy. He's disrespectful."

"No." she whispered.

"What did you say?"

"I said no." she stated, getting a bit louder. Tsuyo's face turned red in anger.

"You will listen to me, Manami."

"Or what? You need me. Hisao can't do what I do, nor would you make him do it. I will not stop seeing Teo, now that I've finally started talking to him, and you can't make me!" she yelled at her own father before running out the door again.

Teo had returned to the gliding platform, looking out at the setting sun when his father came up behind him.

"Not up in the sky like usual?" Ru asked his son. He rested his hand on his son's shoulder when Teo didn't answer immediately.

"No . . . I had a good flight earlier." There was a brief silence before he continued. "A good flight indeed. Dad, do you know any way to fix half a leg?" he asked, turning up to his father. Ru pondered the question for a little while.

"I think I could figure out something, why?" he was curious, since his son had both legs, albeit useless ones.

"Well, one of the men that came in has only half of his right leg, and he makes his daughter do everything for him. I'd like to try to help him." Ru smiled to himself at this. He knew well the man that his son was referring to, and had met the man and his family when they'd first come in. Tsuyo's daughter was very pretty, although shy, and he'd thought that perhaps his son could bring her out of her shell.

"Sure, I'll give it a shot. See if you can get some sort of measurement for what he needs, and if he needs some sort of knee." He grinned at his son before turning to walk off. Just then, Manami ran past the doorway to the platform, sobbing loudly. Ru looked at his son, who'd spun as fast as his chair would allow. Teo had a concerned look on his face, and it was plainly obvious that he would go after the girl. Things were going better than Ru could ever have planned for his son and Tsuyo's daughter.

As his son raced away, Ru planned to have a visit with Tsuyo, as soon as he finished his latest invention.

Teo tried to keep up with Manami, but with all of the turns she was taking, he had to go much slower than he liked. After a number of turns, he lost her. Sighing in frustration, he started a slow search for her. After what seemed like hours, he started to give up. Heading back towards his home, the faint sound of flute music came to him. The song held such sorrow and pain that he nearly cried at the sound. Following the sound, he finally came across Manami, who was sitting on a balcony railing, dangerously close to the edge. Not wanting to startle her into falling, he slowly wheeled closer to her, while she continued playing the hauntingly sorrowful music. Just as he'd reached the railing of the balcony, she stopped playing. Teo stopped rolling across the floor, afraid to make a sound.

"It's not fair. He can't keep me away from the only thing I've ever wanted for myself." Manami said to herself, and then hugged herself. She tried playing the lighthearted tune she'd played earlier, when they had first spoken to each other, but it came out shaky and sad. A lone tear crept down Teo's cheek as he heard how much her heart must be breaking.

Ru knocked on Tsuyo's door, hoping that the man would open the door. Instead, his small son, Hisao opened the door.

"Hi there, is your dad here?" Ru asked the boy with a huge grin. Hisao said nothing, but his face was worried as his eyes darted off to the right. He silently opened the door wider, and Ru peeked inside. Tsuyo was surrounded by shattered pieces of wood – the remains of his crutches. The man's face was nearing purple with rage. Ru could understand why his son had been so quiet. Tsuyo did not look like a very nice man to deal with at this point in time. This did not deter the inventor though.

"Hey, Tsuyo, you need something to replace those crutches?" he asked jovially as he stepped into the living space. Tsuyo looked up at Ru with livid eyes.

"Where is that little cripple of yours?" he demanded. "He's turned my daughter into the most disrespectful daughter I've ever seen!" What was left of Ru's eyebrows shot up in astonishment.

"My son has a name, and I'll thank you to use it." Ru said with a hint of steel in his voice. "As for your daughter, all I've seen of her is when she was shyer than a frightened squirrel-rabbit, and jumping at the merest squeak. If you want a servant, get one, but don't turn your daughter into a slave. I came here at my son's behest to try to help you with your leg. I hoped that his trying to extend that bit of peace to you would help you. I see it hasn't. I've been pushed around by the Fire Nation, I won't be pushed around by someone from my own nation. If my son has found your daughter by now, I will not hesitate to take her in for the night. She does not need to be around you when you're like this." Ru glared down at Tsuyo before turning and leaving, ruffling Hisao's hair before he left.

Lowering the flute, Manami was tempted to throw it. The one thing that had ever brought her joy, also brought pain. Much as she didn't want to, she planned on hiding from Teo for a few days. She didn't want him seeing her like this. As she turned to put her flute back into her bag, she didn't realize she'd been so close to the edge of the railing, and slipped. Screaming suddenly, she grabbed frantically at the railing, when she felt a pair of strong hands grab her wrists.

"I got you. I'll try to pull you up, okay?" she heard Teo tell her worriedly. Distantly, she heard the flute hit the rocks well below her. Tears started to flow unchecked down her cheeks as she was pulled up slowly. She barely noticed that once she was safely on the balcony again that she was pulled into a tight hug. The tears just would not stop, even when Teo had stopped hugging her and was looking at her in concern.

"My flute . . ." she whispered, remembering the hollow whistling as it had fallen. Her eyes were shuttered and still the tears kept coming. Teo just pulled her into his lap, rolled over to her bag and put that in his lap as well, before slowly heading back into the main sections of the temple.

Ru found them later, wandering through the hallways, Manami looking like a small child in his son's arms. Teo looked up at his father, and nearly everything that happened showed on his face. Not wanting to disturb the girl, Ru motioned to his son that they would just head home with her.

The next morning, Manami woke in a strange place, which scared her. Being as quiet as she could, she tried to find the front door to escape. She came across Ru working in his workshop, but did not say anything to him. Just as she'd passed the doorway, he called out to her.

"Manami? You're welcome to stay here with us until your father calms down some." He offered. She slowly crept back to the doorway.

"I – I shouldn't. He'll be angry . . . I have to make his special tea . . ." she stammered out. Ru put down what he was working on and walked over to her. Putting a hand on her shoulder, he looked her in the eyes before speaking again.

"Your father has been using you, and it's not right. He needs to learn to be more self sufficient, like my son has. I'm making him a leg replacement, so he can get around better."

"I should . . . get some of my clothes, at least." She murmured. Ru nodded, and offered to escort her there and back, but she declined, stating that she could slip past her father better alone. Teo wheeled up to his father shortly after.

"Where'd Manami go?" he asked.

"Just to get some clothes. She should be back shortly." Ru told his son, chiseling a small bit of wood off of a section of the wood and metal leg replacement.

"I think while she's gone, I'm going to try to find her flute. It fell from the balcony over towards the east." Teo offered as an explanation as he started to wheel away.

"I should come with you, that ground down there is really uneven, and I wouldn't want to see you tip over and get stuck down there." Ru said, putting down his tools. Teo looked a bit uncomfortable at this.

"I'd actually rather do this alone, dad. I mean, this is kind of a special thing for her, and . . ." he trailed off, not sure how to word his thoughts. Ru understood though.

"You want to do this special thing for her to show how much you care about her, huh?" he smiled. "Sometimes I'm amazed by how much you've grown up." The understanding and words of praise made Teo smile. Reaching up, he hugged his father, and wheeled off. He was already halfway down the path to the base of the mountain that the temple was built upon when Manami came back to their home. She looked around after Ru opened the door for her, arms still full of clothes.

"W-where's Teo?" she asked quietly. Knowing that his son would probably want to surprise the girl with her flute, so he dissembled a little for his son's sake.

"He went off to do something important, he should be back soon. Let me show you where you can put your clothes." Ru led the shy girl to their guest room, where she'd woken up that morning. She had brought with her a few little figurines that she'd been given by her grandfather before he'd died in the raid. Some of them were figurines of the previous avatars, and quite a few looked almost like Air Nomad type figurines. This intrigued Ru, since his wife had owned similar figurines as well. He didn't want to bring up any painful memories for the girl, or himself, so he remained quiet about it. He went back to his workshop after he was sure Manami had settled in decently enough, about to add the knee hinge to her father's replacement leg.

Looking up often, to make sure of where he was, Teo worked his way across rocky, uneven ground in search of the bamboo flute that had dropped when Manami had nearly fallen. As he neared the eastern balcony, he wheeled forward without looking, and tipped over. Muttering at himself in frustration, he pulled the chair over to a relatively flat area before pulling himself back into it. Sighing, he told himself to remember to watch where he was going, when he saw a slight glint about six of his chairlengths away. He picked his way across the ground towards the glint, which turned out to be one of the shell pieces from Manami's flute. Cradling the tiny piece of shell, he was reminded how close Manami had been to death. He looked everywhere around the area he'd found the shell piece, and found most of the pieces of flute. Some had splintered into pieces too small to find, but those that he did find, he carefully put into a small bag of soft but strong cloth.