Wolf Tail — 122 ASC
Nearly a year later found Bumi accompanying his father on one of his routine meetings around the world. He liked to think of it as evidence of his growing maturity and recognition by his parents in regards to diplomacy.
It totally had nothing to do with a certain thousand-year old artifact the Air Acolytes had retrieved from one of the Air Temples, his older sister, ropes, and a lot of glue. Either way, given the choice of a severe scolding by his mother or one by his father, Bumi decided to trust the Avatar's impartiality.
The fact that Aang was just about to leave on one of his routine trips to check on the various lands and that he'd be able to escape from an angry Katara for a few days was just a coincidental bonus.
Which led to him happily dozing off in the shade of a tree in the wide gardens of the Fire Palace. All the important people were in a meeting with his father, so there was nobody else around to bug him. Peaceful.
"What is that thing eating your head?" Or not.
Bumi opened his eyes to find a familiar figure leaning over him. She was dressed in a loose-fitting tunic and leggings combination, rather than the heavy robes he'd last seen her wearing. He also noticed her hair had been pulled into twin pigtail buns atop her head—rather than the single large bun she'd worn with the robes—held in place with a pair of hairsticks. Her head was tilting this way and that as she first stared at his face, then flicked her eyes upwards.
He raised his hand up defensively, automatically. "What, this?" He tugged at the loose strands hanging behind his head. "This is warrior's wolf tail."
"It looks like a rooster-pig decided to feast on your brains and died of malnutrition."
"Oh yeah? Well... " he spun around and leveled a finger at her. "...well your hair looks like... a mouse-snake's!" He flapped his hands to mimic the locations of her buns.
If anyone in the world had developed the means to firebend through their eyes, Bumi would have been their first victim. She grabbed at her own hair defensively. "My mother made these for me. This was her favorite hairstyle when she was younger."
"Well, don't rag on my hair and I won't say anything about yours." He lowered his hands behind his head and closed his eyes again. "Now if you were done intruding... "
"This is my home. You're the one whose intruding," she pointed out, clearly offended by the casual dismissal. "Although... I did come here looking for you," she admitted.
He cracked an eye open at her tone. "Oh?" His eyes opened fully as she brought her hand in front of his face, displaying a small flat stone in her palm.
"I want you to show me how you were skipping the rocks across the pond. If you do that, I might consider forgiving your previous insolence."
He mulled it over, then shrugged. It wasn't like he had anything better to do. "Why does an Imperial Princess and a firebender need to know how to chuck rocks like the lowliest Earth Kingdom peasant?"
Her eyes narrowed, both at his phrasing and his irreverent tone. "If you must know, while my father is overseeing my bending training, my mother has also offered to train me in her own specialities."
He was already well down the path towards the pond, having made his way while she spoke. "What sort of stuff does your mom do?" he called over his shoulder. There was a rush of air as something flew past him and he dropped to the ground reflexively. He lifted his head from his undignified sprawl to spit her with a glare as she tittered and walked down the path.
"Mother," she said, "is quite gifted with throwing knives." She walked past him and to a tree along the side of the path, pulling out a thin stick planted into the side of the trunk. Her hairstick, Bumi suddenly realized.
"She's been training me with darts and similar weapons, as you can see," the Princess said as she spun on her heel, "but she said I lack the proper wrist control for some of her other weapons like shurikens and double-ended throwing daggers." Her eyes narrowed on his. "She thought you might be able to help me with that and commented on your actions earlier this yea—what is so funny?"
Bumi struggled to stop giggling, but only managed to snort in amusement. "It's... I'm sorry but you... it's just... " He rose to a sitting position and pointed at her head while trying to avoid breaking into outright laughter. "Nice hair, Princess," he finally managed.
Her eyes widened as she realized what she might look like, one half of her hair tied into a neat bun, the other half spilling just past her shoulders. Her face went red as she confirmed that fact with her hands, then she pulled out her other hairstick and bounced it off his forehead.
"Ow!"
...
