"Mom, dad, I'm an airbender."
I never thought a silence could be so disturbing and infuriating. Everyone's just staring at me. Some people don't seem to grasp the idea at all, others are mouthing things like "no way!" and others just don't know what to do. My mother stands up and comes around the table. Once she's in front of me, she puts her hands on my shoulder. I seriously have no idea what she's going to do and I can't read the expression painted on her face. Is it joy? Pride? Anger? Fear?
And then, just like that she hugs me and I can't help but hug her back. It's been so long since I did that I can't even remember and for the first time in the last couple of years, my relationship with my mother just feels right. Then she steps back and looks me straight in the eye.
"How long have you known you can airbend?" She asks, all serious again. Everyone's suspended to our lips and eagerly await my answer. "Almost forever."
"Why didn't you tell us, sweetie?" I can see in her eyes that she's proud but at the same time sad that she only gets to discover it after so many years. "Yes Feline, why?" My father asks. I turn to face him, my mother's hands still on my shoulders. Bolin couldn't get more miserable. He looks like he just learned the death of a family member. I bite my lips before facing my mother again. Somehow, I feel more comfortable looking at her right now.
"I…" I can't seem to be able to find the right words. I want to explain everything to them, how it all started, how I knew they wanted me to be a great earthbender, how I'm also a waterbender, how there's a million things I'm going to need to do since I'm the avatar, starting with putting some light on the whole Korra case but I just can't reveal everything to them. Not now. Not yet. I know they'll eventually learn the truth, but I can't stand to disappoint them even more today. My father's expression is enough for now.
"I wanted to tell you, but you wanted me to be a great earthbender and it just didn't seem like the right thing to do. I… I don't know, I didn't feel confident telling you the truth." I can't think of anything more developed to say so I just shut up and wait for a reaction. Everyone starts talking at the same time and small groups are formed. My grandparents and Mako come to congratulate me, but I still can see my father's disappointed face in the corner of my vision and before I know it, he leaves the room. I hope he's going to accept it and I think only time can help him with that. Then it's my cousins' turn.
Gano puts his arm around my shoulders like he always does when he's showing off. "So, Feline, looks like a bending duel is in order! Ready to get your butt kicked for the first time?" I laugh a little and reply. "Are you ready to eat dirt? 'Cause I'm going to make you eat a lot of it!" He walks slightly away and acts like he's scared. "Looks like the tiger's ready to bite! Come on! We'll create the teams in the yard!"
He's so eager to test my bending it's almost funny and I completely forgot the glass of water incident. As we're eight, we decide to make two teams of four. In my team, I've got Jay and Sen, but also Riko, who's the only earthboy who can't metalbend. In the opposite team, there's Tora who's the oldest, Gano who's one of the best earthbenders I know, Loshi who's the most amazing metalbender ever and Yoki who's also a probender like Gano.
We take our positions in the yard, leaving a large gap between us to be able to bend without causing too much trouble even if I know that there's going to be plenty of damage. My five cousins alone could destroy the whole estate by themselves, but three extra benders? We might as well start planning the estate's reconstruction. I'm so excited, but I have to be careful and only airbend. I could easily waterbend without even thinking about it, but I just can't, there's no way I'm revealing I'm the avatar today!
I've never been in a real fight before, so I don't exactly know what to do, but my guess is that I have to defend myself because they're going to attack first. They may go easy on me because I'm new at this, but there still will be rocks flying in my face. Each team is forming a line and we keep our distance in order to be able to move freely. I'm between Riko and Jay, Sen is on the edge. He's smaller and younger than us but I'm sure he's way better than me at this since he's been often fighting playfully with Jay. So I just try to adopt a defense position, my hands raised and ready to blow some air although I don't think that a puff of air is going to win again a rock.
I look quickly at Jay to observe his position which is pretty close to mine but much more relaxed and open like he's only waiting the beginning of the fight to move. He sees me and smiles a little bit when I correct my position to look more like his. I don't know if it's some firebending style, but I guess it's always better than what I have even if it's not going to work with my airbending. My left foot is naturally stamping the ground and I bite my lips and squeeze my eyes to analyze the other team's strategy. All the adults are now sitting on the terrace or standing in the doorway leading to the living room. I guess they're ready to get out of the way if things go out of control which they probably will.
"Relax spontaneous one! Just try to stay alive and don't get in front of me or you'll get hit. But otherwise, you should be fine." Says Jay without looking at me and I can't help but smile in return.
That's when the fight starts. Gano is the first one to attack and he bends the earth in front of Riko in a straight line, pieces of soil protruding from the ground. At the same time, Jay shots a bright flame at Tora who simply ducks while Riko jumps to the side and hides in the thick bushes that grow near the grey wall surrounding the yard. Sen starts to do the same as his brother but Loshi gets him before he can do anything and grabs his ankle with his metal cable, making him fall hard on the ground. Yoki is the one who attacks me. He raises a few rocks the size of chairs and throws them at me, one at a time. I manage to dodge the first three but the fourth is about to hit me when Riko bends a wall in front of me and I thank him quickly. Now that Yoki is out of ammunition I take my chance and shoot a wide stream of air towards him but the distance is too great to do any real damage and he grins before creating new rocks.
Jay helps Sen to get rid of the cable and attacks Gano who starts to run in our direction. At the last moment, Gano makes Jay jump but raising the ground underneath him and Tora hits him with a stone but I manage to soften his landing with my airbending. But by doing so, I turned my back on my opponents and Yoki threw a rock at me which hit my back making me fall on my stomach. I wince but get up only to see Jen jumping on Yoki and roaring at him, her teeth close to his face.
"Jen, stop!" She looks at me, her ears turning like she's happy to hear my voice. "Get away, girl, or you'll get hurt! I'm fine!" She roars one last time and then runs out of the yard, probably going to chase some spirits near the outside walls. She does that sometimes when she gets bored and since spirits come from time to time to the human world, she's having a lot of fun. But it's in Republic City and some wild places that spirits are the most numerous.
Sen attacks Gano and even manages to shield me for a while and Riko gets out of his bush to meet Tora. They start wrestling with rocks and one of them even makes a hole in the wall which makes grandma yell. I start running in Loshi's direction, using air to make me quickly jump on the sides when he throws pieces of earth at me and I manage to avoid all of them while getting close enough to do what I planned. I suddenly jump and propel myself with air, flying above him and use both my fists to punch him with a great gust of wind that knocks him down. I land and throw some blows with my feet, moving like never before, feeling this adrenaline pulsing in my veins and an indescribable joy overwhelming me. But Loshi bends the metal griddle I'm standing on which makes me eat the dirt again and I fall just near the pond. When I feel the water on my fingers, I'm thinking about waterbending but I just can't. I promised myself I wouldn't.
Loshi stops metalbending for a while and he uses the wall of one of the building to make it fall on me but I get up quickly and get way from it, joining the middle of the yard. I can tell by grandma's face that she's not pleased at all that Loshi just destroyed a small part of the kitchen.
Jay suddenly comes back into the fight, throwing blows of fire at Loshi until Tora bursts in and Jay and I are standing back to back. Tora is now also using metalbending and he's throwing pieces of metal at us but I manage to create some sort of air barrier around us, like a small cyclone, but it only pushes the smallest rocks away and Jay has to deal with the biggest. "So, looks like we're stuck here. You have a plan?" I ask my cousin. He grins and pushes a rock aside then takes a good look around: Sen is having trouble with Gano and is doing his best to run around the yard, hiding behind trees and metal walls while Gano seems to have the greatest fun in the world. Now that Jen's gone, Yoki's back and he easily deals with Riko who looks exhausted and hides once again in the bushes.
"We're going to surprise them. On my cue you stop shielding us, then we dodge their attacks and both attack Tora, then Loshi." Jay says. Then he throws a flame under my barrier but it only makes Loshi jump back. "NOW!" I stop airbending and immediately rocks come flying at us but Jay grabs me and we fall flat on the ground. Tora manages to protect himself from Jay's fire by raising his arms, but I make him fall by blowing air on his legs.
Loshi reacts faster than we thought and ties me with his cable just when Yoki gave up on playing hide and seek in the bushes with his brother. He attacks Jay who can't help me and Loshi is pulling me closer by the second. I try to get out of this mess and struggle but his bending is excellent. Come on! This fight isn't over yet! I have to do something! I try to focus all my energy on this cable and after a few seconds, I release every blow of air I can and in every direction which luckily frees me. And before Loshi gets over his surprise, I jump at him and hit him with my closer fist square in the chest.
I look at my mother who's standing next to grandma's chair, Lin is also looking and even if her arms are crossed, I can tell she's impressed. Mako seems enjoying the fight and I'm sure it reminds him of the days he was a part of Team Avatar. It must have been so cool! Loshi tries to get up and I put my foot on his chest. "You aren't going anywhere, cousin!"
Jay, who was brawling with Yoki suddenly yells my name. I can't help but turn to see what's going on, the alarming ton of his voice catching my attention. He's trying to burn Yoki who's close to me now and all I can see is the rock flying at me. Way too fast. I realize too late that I won't be able to dodge it.
The rock hits me hard in the face and I fall back while my vision turns pitch black and I can't feel anything anymore.