It had been two years since Hui-ying had last seen her mother. She had written to her every single day and now they were finally to be reunited. The war had ended, it had ended relatively quickly but not without casualties. It was the first war involving benders and the death rate had been devastating, those without any bender powers had no way to fight back they've never had to deal with these kinds of attacks before. During the war neither Hui-ying nor her mother had heard from Li-liang. Not a single trace of him had appeared in the capital, just as Hui-ying assumed her brother had left the country.
Chang Ming had taught Hui-ying everything he knew about airbending and soon she had become an airbending master. She could remember the day they had to shave her beautiful long brown silky hair to tattoo the blue arrows on her body. She had been upset but her hair had now already begun to grow back and maybe it was because she'd gone so long without it but it looked even more beautiful than before to her.
"Hui-Ying, you ready to go? Chang Ming asked smiling as he usually did but when he turned around he noticed Hui-Ying was not happy she had a huge grimace on her face. "What's wrong?" he asked worriedly.
"It's not fair" she mumbled, "It's not fair!" she said again this time yelling it out in frustration.
Chang Ming understood right away what Hui-ying was talking about. The war had frightened all the sky bison to the northern and eastern air temples. The only sky bison left were the ones that had already bonded with their airbender and only remained in the temple because there companions were there. "Someday," was all he could manage to say to comfort her.
"easy for you to say, you've got Sorano", Hui-ying muttered, "you get to fly together as much as you want", she threw her hands up in the air and wiggled them while she said this.
"I know, I know," Chang Ming stayed silent for a moment and finally said, you haven't found your brother yet, have you?"
Hui-ying's face went from her playful grimace to an expression of solemnity which was all the answer Chang Ming needed. He beamed at her, "then we can accomplish all three things in one go!"
Hui-ying cocked her head to the side, "three?"
"First!" he exclaimed, "We'll go to see your mother and tell her that we are going on a journey to find your brother and we'll send lots of letters so she won't have to worry!"
Hui-ying nodded her head for him to continue.
"Then as one of our pit stops we'll got to the northern or eastern air temple and we'll find you a sky bison!"
Hui-ying was smiling now, "and the third thing?" she asked.
Chang Ming jumped off of Sorano and floated cross-legged in front of Hui-ying, "you wanted to master all four elements before your brother, right? Well, I have an idea. Humans learned how to control the elements from nature. So we should look to nature as our guide on to be able to master all four elements."
"Continue" Hui-ying said her eyes shining.
"If we were to align the four elements with the seasons, water would be winter, earth is spring, fire is summer, and air would be fall. You should follow the cycle of the elements and the seasons. You've already learned air so the next logical step would be water."
"Oh Chang Ming you're a genius!" Hui-ying cooed.
"Well, you know" Chang Ming mumble blushing.
Hui-Ying jumped and propelled herself with a blast of air onto Sorano's back. She was quickly followed by Chang Ming who landed in front of her and called out, "Sorano, yip yip!"
They were off and headed towards the most southern-eastern point of the Earth Kingdom, a small fishing village Hui-ying called home.
When they had first landed Hui-ying had not recognized her mother. She had become so old and tired in only two years' time. Her hands were no longer soft and warm but rough and calloused, and her eyes seemed dry from two years of crying. Lines and wrinkles existed where they hadn't before. No, when Hui-ying saw this sad old woman before her she did not recognize her as her mother.
Master ling was still alive he had been the one who had helped Hui-ying's mother send her letters. It was no wonder the woman had become so sad considering not only had she lost a son but she'd also lost a husband. It was almost funny how little a chance the non-benders stood against the benders. It almost made Hui-ying ashamed, she felt guilty of her father's death by simply being a bender.
They were now sitting inside Chang Ming was till outside tending to Sorano. Ling sat across from Hui-ying and Hui-ying's mother was pouring tea for them. "Oh Hui-ying it's been so long" her mother said softly, "you cut your hair?" she asked as she placed a steaming cup down in front of her daughter and let her fingers glide through her hair.
"I am an airbending master now" Hui-ying replied smiling, "you should've seen it a few months ago I was completely bald". She pushed her hair back for emphasis.
Hey mother chuckled as she set down a cup of tea in front of Ling and finally sat down. Hui-ying felt relieved the moment she heard the familiar sound. The sound that said 'Hui-ying why must you always do the strangest things'. They sat in happy silence for a couple seconds, content to simply be in each other's company after so long.
Hui-ying finally opened her mouth, "I'm leaving to look for Li-liang".
"Hui-ying", Ling stated, "are you honestly going to leave your mother –"
"go." Hui-ying's mother interrupted, "I might be getting older but I'm not so old that I can't live by myself for a year or two. Just promise that if after five years you find nothing, you will come home."
Ling knitted his furry eyebrows together and grumbled. "I promise" Hui-ying stated holding her hand to her heart.
"Now," her mother said, "are you and your friend going to stay for the night or are you going to leave right this instant".
"of course we'll stay for the night!" Hui-ying said giggling because she was honestly about to get up and run away on an adventure.
The next morning Hui-ying sat atop Sorano with Chang Ming. They took off and as she waved goodbye to her mother she realized something important. Her mother had changed but not in the way Hui-ying had originally thought. The lines in her face were not from worry and sadness but from determination and hope. The callouses did not represent weakness but rather represented her change from a housewife with two kids who only had to make dinner while her husband worked but to someone who was strong enough to work and take care of herself. Her mother was someone Hui-ying could rely on to wait for her and to be there when she returned.
"Whatcha thinking about?" Chang Ming asked her.
"I'm thinking about how we need a map" She responded laughing.
Chang Ming smiled, "Next Stop!" he exclaimed, "The Capital to buy a world map!"
They were flying a few hours when Chang Ming finally asked, "by the way, uh, which way to the capital"
A/N
I came up with such an original name for Chang Ming's sky bison xD. Poor Hui-ying, she's not going to get a sky bison for a long time~
