THE NATURAL DAUGHTER OF SOMEBODY

Midori's first memory is of sitting in her uncle's lap, looking across a Pai Sho board at her mother. She's four or five. There's a pleasant odor of tea in the air. Midori remembers thinking how pretty the painted tiles looked.

She reaches for the piece with the three-legged raven. Her uncle gently takes hold of her wrist and keeps her from messing up the game in play.

The spring of her eighth year, Midori has a surprise for her uncle when he comes for his annual visit. She waits in her mother's shadow as they welcome Uncle into their little house, which buds off from the printing shop her mother owns.

"Jin," says Uncle, kissing Mom's hand. Mom smiles like a cat at the gesture. It's an expression that Midori wishes she could imitate but can't. They aren't much alike. "You are looking lovely as always."

"Oh, Mushi. Always the flatterer."

"~Mom~!"

Her mother gently rests a hand on top of Midori's hair. "Mushi, your grand-niece has something she's been dying to tell you."

Uncle hunkers down on his knees. "Oh?"

"I'm a BENDER!"

"You... bend?" he asks, with a touch of wonder. Midori can tell he's impressed. She grins. He looks up at her mother.

"Don't worry," Mom says. "Show him, baby."

Nodding firmly, Midori stomps the ground. A chunk of rock breaks off the stone floor and levitates into the air.

Uncle stares, dumbfounded, but then a broad grin breaks out across his face. "That... that's very impressive, my little earthbender!"

She's still showing off the little tricks she's picked up in the last few weeks when Mom whispers to Uncle, thinking Midori isn't listening, "This makes things easier, you know."

"In some ways," murmurs back Uncle.

The next day, she and Uncle go for walk through the winding footpaths of Taku. Midori leads the way, though Uncle makes them stop, like, every twenty feet to browse through a vendor's stall or a knickknack shop.

Taku is both a new city and an old one. Destroyed in the early days of the Great War, it laid fallow for almost a century until the territory was given back to the Earth Kingdom at war's end in exchange for conceding sovereignty to the larger Fire Nation settlements in the Five Occupied Provinces. Midori knows this because Taku is filled with unhappy refugees from the land the Fire Nation stole.

It's mostly the adults who care about stuff like that. Midori and her friends grew up in Taku in the years the decayed city lifted itself out of the grave. The Great War is ancient history. If a bunch of bitter old men and women with burn scars want to rough up traders from the Fire Nation, Midori hopes they're at least smart enough to do it in the back alleys where the city guard can't see.

Eventually the two of them end up in a little park. Uncle takes a seat on a bench -- "My old bones are weary," he groans melodramatically -- and watches as she and a couple of other kids play a pickup game of Earth Soccer. Midori loves it because it gives her a chance to show off her earthbending. Not three months ago she could only sit with her friends and watch as the benders played. Now she can bend. Her teacher said she had 'real talent'. Midori likes that idea. She wants Uncle to see how good she is at earthbending.

It isn't hard to do. Midori is amazed how the other kids just didn't see how the soccer ball will angle off the rock pillars. Are they blind? Or just stupid? Midori had picked that stuff up the first time she played. Now she can ricochet it off her pillars at crazy angles and dance around the other kids.

Midori leaves her own teammates in the dust, single-handedly racking up a string of goals in minutes. After the game is over, one of her teammates, a pig-tailed girl, runs up to her and says, "Hey! Why were you hogging the ball?!"

"I wasn't hogging it! I was winning the game!"

Instead of saying anything, the girl shoves her. Midori shoves back. The pig-tailed girl doesn't take it lightly, hitting Midori in the shoulder with a sloppy punch. In turn, Midori slugs the girl across the mouth. She staggers back. The rest of the kids gather 'round, cheering them on. Before the other girl can recover, Midori moves to strike her again. When she draws back her fist, however, it's caught in something firm. Spooked, Midori turns her head.

Uncle glares back at her. "That's enough!" His word is enough to silence the bloodthirsty circle. He lets go of Midori's hand. "Apologize to this girl."

"B-but--!"

"Now, niece."

Skin flushing with embarrassment, Midori turns away from her uncle and faces the pig-tailed girl with the bloodied lip. She chokes out, "I'm s-sorry."

Later, they sit together on a park bench.

Uncle rests a hand on the small of her back. Midori's first instinct is to push him away. But this is Uncle and he and Mom are the only people who would never hurt her. Uncle says to her, "You know, you have your mother's eyes, but there are times when I cannot help but be reminded of your aunt."

Midori perks up at this. "I have an aunt?!"

Uncle nods. "She was a... juggler like your father."

"Really?" Was everyone on my father's side except Uncle a circus freak?

"Really."

"What was her name?"

"...Hotaru."

"'Aunt Hotaru'," Midori whispers a little breathlessly.

"It is strange but sometimes it seems as if you are your aunt reborn. It is unfair, I know, but the physical resemblance is uncanny." Uncle strokes his beard. "And there is more. You share her relentless drive for perfection, her love for her parent--"

Midori asks, "So Dad and Aunt Hotaru were only raised by their mom too?"

Uncle smirks. He wags a finger at her. "Sharp too. But not quite right. After your grandmother passed away, your father and aunt were raised by your grandfather. Lee and his father did not get along, but Hotaru was close to him."

"What about you?"

"Lee and I... we didn't spend much time together before he left the circus. Hotaru and I were never close."

"B-but you said I was just like her! You still love me, right?"

"Of course!"

Midori relaxes. Straightening her shoulders, she declares, "That's acceptable."

Uncle laughs. "I am glad you find it so."

"So why didn't you and Aunt Hotaru love each other?"

The characteristic twinkle in his eyes dims. More solemnly, he explains, "Your grandfather -- my brother -- thought I was a bad influence, and your aunt and I had different opinions on... well, everything. She was passionate but I don't think she ever cared about how the things she did affected other people." Uncle deflates. "Nowadays I cannot help but wish I had tried harder with your aunt. I helped your father. Perhaps..."

Midori has never heard of a mean-spirited juggler before. "Is that why you got angry at me for hitting that jerk?"

"Ah," says Uncle, "but why did she shove you first?"

"Because she's mean."

Uncle arches an eyebrow.

Midori hunches forward. "Okay," she says after a few seconds, "I didn't pass her the ball." Midori adds, "But she's a horrible player! I was winning for the team!"

"Were you? Or were you playing for your own satisfaction?"

She scowls. "What's satizz... satis--?"

"For your own selfish enjoyment."

"Oh." A pause. "But I'm better than her. So I should be the one with ball!"

Uncle asks, "How would you feel if another, better earthbender wouldn't let you have the ball during a game?"

"I'll be the better one," she mutters, staring angrily at her bare feet. Since she'd started earthbending, Midori has steadfastly refused to wear shoes. Everyone knows the greatest earthbenders walk around barefoot. "I should be the best."

"Being the best isn't enough if you don't have love, niece. Your father strove to be best at juggling even if he lacked your aunt's raw talent."

Uncle goes on, "Lee was the most honorable man I ever knew, and I do not say that just because he was your father. Lee struggled to do the right thing. There were times he failed but, in the end, he made the right choices. He stood shoulder-to-shoulder with his friends. Lee knew power is nothing without love, something I couldn't teach your aunt."

"I wish my dad had done the wrong thing," Midori says, staring at her dirty feet. "Then he'd still be here."

Uncle Mushi leans over and hugs her. "I'm sure if he had the choice to be with you, my little earthbender, he would be."

Rather than say anything, Midori just hugs her uncle back.

"Try to remember what I said today, niece."

"I will, Uncle."

Hand-in-hand, Midori and her uncle walk back home.