Chapter Two: Call to Action

It had been more than four years since Kimiko had first discovered her airbending and much had changed over such a short amount of time. Instead of a small, little girl, Kimi was now taller and more filled out. She had just celebrated her twelfth birthday. Her previously long, straight black hair was now cut just past her chin and a set bangs laid above her dark eyebrows.

Jia had had her third child and second son, Najun. So far he had not shown signs of either earthbending or airbending, but Shen was convinced he would be another earthbender because of his strong will and unbreakable stubbornness. He would be four years old in two months.

Huang had begun accompanying Shen to work as well. He was now fifteen years old, as his birthday was during the last full moon, which was old enough to help out. He had also completed most of his earthbending training. This was only another reason why the boy was able to aid his father. The two were able to keep up with the demand of building now that the work could be done at a faster pace. This lead to more free time for Shen to be home with his family.

Since Huang was now off with Shen every day, Kimiko had taken over her brother's old chores. She now was in charge of the animals that her family raised and also helped out with her mother's garden. Every morning Kimi tended to the abundant amount of animals back in the barn behind their house. This included collecting the turkey duck eggs, milking the goat cows, and shearing the koala sheep when necessary. When the girl wasn't busy outside, she would also help her mother cook dinner and occasionally watch Najun, her little brother. Every week Kimi or Jia would travel down the hill to town and sell their leftover products at the market for some extra coins.

Right now Kimiko had just finished her daily chores and was taking a break out back. Over the years, her airbending had gotten much better, especially considering there was no one to teach her. Kimi could do many basic moves now, like creating a sphere of air or air punches and kicks. She even could make thin blades of air that were powerful enough to cut blades of grass and put deep gouges in rocks. Her greatest accomplishment yet was making a vortex of air around herself, which allowed her to hover in the air or push herself up to out of reach places. Many of her moves were inspired from watching her father and brother earthbend. Although she didn't know any master airbenders, she did know some earthbenders. While she was not sure of what she was doing half the time, Kimi was positive she was on her way to becoming a strong bender. Not that she could really use it in front of others. The Fire Nation believed all of the airbenders dead and wouldn't like to discover that they missed one.

She had read all the books she could find on the Air Nomads (not that there were many) when she first found out she could bend and discovered that they were very spiritually connected to their element. Kimi had even dabbled in meditation to try and create a deeper spiritual bond and her ancestors. Although she was unsure at first, she found meditating a good way of relaxing and centering her chi. This is what Kimiko was doing before her brother interrupted.

"Hey, Kimi!" Huang shouted from behind his little sister as he ran up to her side. She smiled up at him as he sat down on the grass next to her. Huang was now a young man. He now had a good layer of muscle built up, but still had a few childish remnants, like the playful glint in his dark eyes half hidden by the long, dark hair he refused to get trimmed much to the annoyance of his mother. "Papa and I finished up early today, so I figured we could have a rematch!"

A smile graced the younger child's lips. "Really? Are you too big of a sore loser to accept defeat from your little sister?" Kimi's blue eyes sparked when she glanced over at Huang.

"No, of course not!" he answered with his arms crossed. The teenage boy glanced away from his sister and pursed his lips before continuing. "I just figured you needed some more practice."

Yesterday Kimiko and Huang were sparring and it was the first time that Kimi had ever outdone her brother when they used their bending. Huang had taught his little sister how to fight without her bending a few years ago in case she ever needed to defend herself in public. Afterall, she surely couldn't use her airbending. It was only recently, after Huang deemed Kimi good enough at hand-to-hand combat, that they begun battling with their bending. This was probably why Kimiko had excelled so much with her airbending recently. It was much more fun to practice if she had no idea what was coming her way. Also, it made her have to think outside the box more to counter an attack if she was forced to retaliate instead of practicing forms.

"Sure! I was just teasing you, Huang." Kimi knocked her elbow into her brother's side before bouncing to her feet. "But I'm still gonna beat you!"

Huang tossed her a smirk before kicking his foot out while he flipped to his feet. Kimi felt the earth moving beneath her toes and jumped with the momentum high into the air. She twisted her body while in the air as she soared over the top of her brother's head and landed on the ground behind him. Kimiko kicked and punched streams of air at Huang, but he was quick enough to dodge them all and bend a large boulder her way. The girl rolled to the side only to have to duck away from another rock that came her way. A back and forth pattern continued for a while before Huang finally knocked her down.

"Come on, Kimi! Is that all you got?" Huang taunted before launching small spikes of earth at her again, not giving her a chance to rest.

Grinding her teeth, Kimiko got to her feet yet again and stopped the spikes with a large, overpowered burst of air that knocked back the spikes as well as her brother. She took this opportunity to run at him with accelerated speed and then switched to hand-to-hand combat. It almost looked like Kimi would best her brother, but she wasn't prepared when Huang blocked her high kick and used his earthbending to pull her other foot out from under her. Kimiko ended up falling hard on her back and stared up at her brother's smirking form.

"Gotcha again," Huang chirped before holding a hand out to his sister.

Kimi couldn't hold back a small smile as she grabbed his hand and pulled herself up to her feet. "I almost had you."

"In your dreams, little Kimi. Maybe another day." He then pulled her into his side and nuzzled the palm of his hand into her head, messing up her hair.

"Hey!" the girl shouted before pulling away from him with an elbow to his gut. She then fixed her hair before muttering, "Don't forget I beat you last week!"

"Maybe I let you win," the elder boy said mischievously as he began heading back toward the house. "Now come on, Kimi. I'm sure lunch will be done soon. The sun past half way now."

Kimiko pursed her lips at his back before following after him. Surely he didn't let her win last week on purpose. Huang was just being a sore loser and couldn't admit defeat or his pride would be destroyed. Like he would ever pass up the chance of rubbing his sister's face in his win count. "Whatever you want to believe, Huang."

"Kimiko! Huang! Lunch is going to get cold if you two keep fooling around back there!" Jia shouted from the door of the house. Their mother's bright blue eyes sparked as she watched her children. Little did they know that she was watching her two kids battle against each other. Jia was happy that they had grown so much over the years, but she was also saddened that her babies were becoming adults.

The two kids waste no time heading for the kitchen. Their mother's cooking was something that the two could never tire of and tonight she had made their favorite, vegetable filled dumplings, steamed tofu, and rice for dinner and a peach fruit pie for later. This was an old recipe that Jia had learned from her grandmother. Airbenders supposedly made the best desserts.

"Now we just need your father. Huang, do you know how long he will be?" Jia ushered her children to the table to sit down. Najun was already sitting at the table. His small hand was reaching forward toward a dumpling. His mother slapped his hand away lightly and gave him a stern look. The youngest son just pouted and crossed his arms impatiently.

"Papa isn't back yet? We finished up early today, so he sent me back ahead of him. He said he was gonna finish cleaning up old man Chen's yard before following himself and that should have only taken a few minutes." Huang's mouth fell into a small frown. It wasn't normal for his father to take this long, especially if it was before lunch time.

Jia's brow furrowed in worry, but she gave her kids a meek smile. She didn't want to worry them. "Well, let's just start then. I'm sure your father will be here soon—"

Suddenly, the front door burst open. Shen had finally arrived home. He was panting hard, like he had just ran the entire way here. Jia turned around with a smile to greet her lovely husband only to frown at his tense expression.

"What's wrong?" his wife asked worriedly as she fluttered over to his side. "Did something happen?"

Shen pulled Jia into his side for a long hug and kissed the top of her head. He figured it was best to get the news out fast. "The Earth Kingdom soldiers stopped into town when I was on my way home. They are recruiting more people for the front lines again."

Jia gasped and leaned into Shen's chest. Tears were flowing down her face, wetting the dark green shirt that he wore. She immediately knew were this was going. "No, this can't be happening."

"I have to leave tonight," Shen muttered sadly. He wrapped both arms around his sobbing wife before look at his children. The sadness in his eyes was overwhelming at the news, but Shen wasn't done yet. "And so does Huang."

Kimi was in shock. It was like freezing water had been poured over her. Her father and her brother were leaving. It could be years before she sees them again. If she ever sees them again. The war had been going on for decades, almost one hundred year. Many people had died over the years, what's to say that her family won't?

The mother only breaks down more. She was not prepared for her husband to go off to war, let alone her son. A significant portion of her family was leaving. Jia always knew that this day could come, but she still wasn't prepared for it. It broke her heart that she couldn't do anything about it. The Fire Nation was relentless and if they took over the Earth Kingdom it would be disastrous. So far their nation was able to hold them off, but they needed strong warriors to defend the territory. It was naive to think that her own family wouldn't play a part in the fighting.

The two women both turn their attention to Huang. After all, it was him who was going off to war. The boy, just barely a man, was stock still in his chair. His eyes were hard and fists were clenched. Huang didn't want to worry his family. He was strong. Crying would be a sign of weakness that an earthbender was not supposed to show. His nails dug harder into the palm of his hand. It was his duty—an honor—to serve as a soldier. But why did he feel dread and fear in the pit of his stomach?

"Huang? But he's only just turned fifteen a few weeks ago! He can't leave too!" Kimi wiped at her eyes. She couldn't believe that her brother, someone she had been close to her entire life, and her father were going away.

"Papa and Huang are leaving?" Najun mumbled from his chair at the table. "Didn't they just get home?" As he was only four years old, but he didn't understand the gravity of the situation.

His mother pulled away from Shen and rushed to pick up her youngest child. Jia gave him a watery smile and brushed a black lock of hair out of his brown eyes. "Yes, Jun, your papa and brother are going to go on a long trip to help the Earth King beat the Fire Nation."

Najun frowned. He didn't like the idea of not seeing his family. "But they are gonna come back soon, right?"

Shen let out a small sigh and walked around the table to Najun. "Don't worry, Jun. I promise that I'll see you again. I don't know if it will be soon, but I swear I will be back. I couldn't go on without seeing my little man."

The little boy nodded and gave his father a stern look, "You better, or I'll make sure Kimi blows you into the river again!"

Laughter fell out of his parents' mouths and his siblings couldn't help but smile at Najun's antics. Everyone brushed their tears away and sat down around the table. Dinner was cold now, much to Jia's displeasure, but it didn't matter anymore. The happy atmosphere had vanished. A deep heaviness weighed down on the group that even the idea of peach fruit pie couldn't lift. This would be the last family meal for a very long time. The meal dragged on, no one wanting to face the finality of the situation yet.

"I guess we should get going now. Huang, get what you need and then say goodbye to your mother and siblings. There are still some hours left in the day, so I'm they plan to make it to the next town before sundown." Shen finally grunted out after he wiped a spot of peach filling off his chin.

After gathering up all the essentials, Huang went to find Kimi. She had boarded herself up into her small bedroom. Kimiko absolutely refused to witness her father and older brother walk away and possibly never return. He saw that she was curled up in the corner on her bed and sat down next to her.

"I'm going to miss you, Kimii," Huang forced out after a sniffle before wiping at his face. The tears he refused to let fall were finally making their way down his cheeks.

Kimi looked over at her brother. He was her best friend. Since she was an airbender Kimiko hardly ever interacted with others her age. When she was young, she didn't have very good control over her bending Her mother was scared that she would have an accident in public, so she rarely let Kimiko out in town for a long time. Although she has improved much recently, the idea of meeting new people was daunting. Kimi had Huang anyway. Their close age had made them inseparable, but now that was going to have to change. Huang was leaving and neither of them knew how to deal with it.

"It's going to be okay, Huang. I'm sure you'll come back soon. The war had been going on long enough, it's bound to be over soon, right?" Kimi choked out before reaching over wiping the salty tears off his face. She then pulled him in for an embrace. She definitely was going to miss him too.

Huang usually wasn't one for hugs, but he squeezed his sister tightly into his side. "I promise I'll write whenever I can, okay?"

"You better," Kimiko uttered into his chest. She pulled away and wiped her tears one last time. She wasn't going to cry anymore.

"Huang," Shen called from the door. Both kids turned their attention to their father. "Your mother and Najun probably want a hug as well."

Reluctantly, Huang stood and made his way past his father, who ruffled his hair when he walked past.

Shen then made his way into the room. Kimi took the time to examine him, as if it would be the last time she ever saw him. Her father was a tall, broad shouldered man. He had warm hazel eyes, which both her brothers had inherited, and long black hair with streaks of silver pulled back into a knot. A few wrinkles had found a home on his face over the years. Right now, a sad smile graced his lips as he looked down at his only daughter.

"Are you going to be okay?" her father asked quietly. He had never been a man of many words, but when he did speak, what he said meant a lot.

In all honestly, Kimiko could have laughed at that moment. He father was going to the front lines of a war and he was concerned about her well being. Of course she wasn't okay, but she would be. "It's not me you should be worried about, Papa."

Shen lowered himself next to his daughter. "Oh, I will always worry about you, hon. After all, you're my little girl." He then pulled her in for a one-armed hug and leaned his head against hers. Shen smiled when he saw the corners of Kimi's lips turn upward. "Now, your brother and I are leaving, Kimiko, and that means that you're in charge. Help out your mother and keep an eye on Najun. He's still so young and has a lot of growing up to do."

"Of course, Papa. I'll hold down the fort until you and Huang come back," Kimi responded confidently. One thing she was sure of was that she could easily help out her mother and little brother.

Shen nodded and stood up from the bed. "I'm counting on it, Kimi." he then headed toward the door, but hesitated when he got to the hall. An almost unnoticable frown graced his face as he turned back toward his daughter. "Never forget that I love you, okay?"

At those words, Kimi's heart soared. Her father was not usually an emotional man. "I know, Papa. I love you too."

With a nod, Shen turned and left down the hall. Kimiko would never forget the image of her father turning and walking away from her. An uneasy feeling settled in her stomach despite how much she wished it away. She couldn't shake the feeling of how much this seemed like a goodbye instead of a see you later.

Author's Note: Well, here is the next chapter! This is the second chapter about Kimiko before the show begins. There are a few more until the show starts, but it helps give a background on who Kimi is as a person and how life has affected her. I can't wait to get to the plot of the show. I hope everyone enjoyed and please leave a review! So far I haven't got any and I dunno how people are feeling about things.

Please review! -Laura