"I'm gay."

The rhythmic clinks of fine Watertribe dinner ware faded out with little rings, followed by Sokka's barbaric gnawing on his pork-chicken breast as he stopped mid-tear. Kya watched as the pairs of eyes- green and gold and blue and gray- slowly wandered away from her face and towards each other as glances were exchanged over the silence. A few chopsticks fell to the wooden table with soft thunks.

She tried to study all of their faces at once but her heartbeat's pace and volume was immensely dizzying. Aunt Suki had a hand to her mouth and was looking at everyone but Kya. A look of surprise replaced the usual looks of dullness on her Fire Nation aunt and uncle's faces. She looked across the table and anchored her eyes to her brother's, and he held her there, to remind her of what they talked about earlier. She looked away when a lemur outside the window caught her eye. He was perched on the flowery apple trees. Would it and her brother be her last companions?

Only seconds had passed but Kya felt ages older.

"Sweetie," Her mother's voice brought her back. Her expression was difficult to read as she folded her napkin and placed it upon her un-finished plate. Kya had ruined her appetite. "What brought this up?"

She watched all of these people turn to face her. She was sitting near the end of the table between Izumi and Tenzin, and across from Bumi, Lin, and Su. The rest of the adults sat to Kya's left. She focused on one face at a time.

"Nothing brought it up, Mom. I just wanted all of you to know. And everyone is here now." She brought her glass of water to her lips but couldn't get a drop to pass through. She allowed her shaking hand to set the glass back down as casually as possible.

"What's gay?" Su asked in a soft voice.

"That means Kya wants to be in a relationship with a woman and not a man," Aunt Toph replied, with an easy shrug. "Or it could mean a man wants to be in a relationship with another man."

"So does that mean you don't have a crush on Tu?" Izumi inquired, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose. "Because I could have sworn I saw a connection there- ow!" she shrieked when Aunt Mai's elbow met her side.

"I think what your mom is trying to say is, how do you know?" Uncle Sokka interrupted, talking with his hands. "Like, are you sure about this, kiddo?"

Kya had grown hot and opened her mouth to speak, but Bumi was quicker.

"I think she is sure, Uncle Sokka. Like really sure." He pushed his chair out like he was going to stand, but didn't. "What are you guys confused about?"

"Nothing," Katara began again, "Its just that-,"

Kya had almost forgotten her father was present until the moment when he more assuredly said, "Nothing." Then he stood and walked a few seats down the table to where Kya was sitting.

"Thank you for telling us, Sweetie. I'm glad you felt like you could," and he kissed the side of her temple. "You know you have the support of everyone here, no matter who you decide to love and bring into the family."

Katara quickly made her way to her side as well.

"Of course you do, Baby," and she swept Kya's thick braids behind her ears. "We love you no matter what. I just wasn't expecting that, that's all."

"Sorry," she stood up to hug the similar looking woman. She thought she wanted to say something like 'I didn't really expect to be gay', but all that came out was another, "Sorry."

Then tears fell from her eyes onto her cheeks, one after another, hot and heavy, and the room suddenly gave a violent spin as everyone left their chairs to crowd her in an embrace.

"We love you more than anything, Ky," said her Uncle Sokka's voice. "You should know that."

She wiped her nose and eyes with a napkin and patted Su's head as she clung to her legs. "I do now, I guess."

"I told you no one would care," Bumi said, squeezing her shoulders.

"So, would you consider dating Rose Min instead then?" Izumi squeezed into the crowd. "Because I can see the both of you together."

"Izumi…" Her father warned, but Kya just laughed. He gave Kya an awkward hug. "You already bring your family so much honor, kid. Your parents love you more than anything."

There was an audible sigh. "I mean, you kids are weird as it is and we still love you, did you really think this would make a difference?" Her Aunt Mai quipped, and everyone laughed.

She could feel dampness return to her cheeks as her father kissed her head, and she sank into her family's embrace.

x

The best possible reaction. I think it would be fun to play with some alternate reactions. Thank you for the reviews, they are very sweet. I hope this story helps those who are going through this sort of thing. It sucks sometimes.