AN: I'm sorry if i'm time jumping too much, but there's just a lot of years I gotta cover if i'm going with the ending I planned out.

After the Rain

Chapter 4

"Put it down, now."

"Why?"

"Because if she sees, you're gonna get me in trouble."

"She isn't even in here, Kaida."

"Just give me the dumb knife." Kaida glares and snatches the blade from his hands. With Aang's family visiting for a few days it isn't hard to slip away from the group among all the chaos. There's a problem with disappearing with Bumi and it's that no one ever fails to notice.

They left during a quiet moment, while Kaiyo sat to read, and while Tenzin meditated not too far off. With those two out of the way, Kya was next to nothing to worry about. Avoiding the the attendants and the guards, they made their way to the armory where they kept her father's swords and her mother's knives. Which, Bumi picked up much too quickly-and left Kaida to play babysitter.

She rolls her eyes as he takes the dual swords in both hands, getting into a stance, "you can use broadswords?"

"No, but I can try." Bumi smirks, swivelling a few times before accidently hitting himself in the gut with the hilt, "-or not."

"Maybe, we should just leave that to the adults."

"You're usually up for this?"

"Not right now." Sighing, Kaida puts the knife back in its case before leaving the armory all together.

It's nothing to worry over. I promise.

"Hey! Wait up!"

"You're not worried?" Kya asks, lacing her fingers behind her head as she lays down in the grass.

"Worried about what?" '

"She's avoiding you."

Kaiyo lets off a soft growl, before shutting his book, "if she wants to be angry with me about nothing, then let her."

"What are you two fighting about anyway?"

Rolling his eyes he shrugs-there is nothing to fight about. There were no confrontations, she hadn't touched anything of his,or vice versa and there was nothing else to him at the moment. Since his grandmother's last visit she'd avoided him in halls and at banquets, averting her eyes during dinner. It had gone on for three weeks and there was still not a sign or even a hint that he had done anything wrong.

"Maybe she's bored of me, who knows." Usually that was what happened, she'd lose interest, and he'd sit and never give her a sideways glance about it. But still, not something to be angry over.

Instead, he shakes the thought, laying down next to Kya and setting the book on his stomach, "I am actually pretty dull. I'm not sure how you tolerate me."

"With brother's like mine it isn't hard to appreciate the quiet, I guess?"

"With brothers like yours i'm surprised you haven't gone crazy."

"Kya!"

The moment she hears, she tilts her head over and smirks, "nice to see you're finally awake, Tenny."

Kaiyo tilts his head back and looks up, snorting as he spots the ink lines that mark Tenzin's upper lip.

"Got too into it?"

Tenzin snarls, "Did you put her up to this?"

"You think I'd make your own sister prank you?"

"Maybe."

"Well, I wouldn't...okay, maybe I would." Holding back another laugh he puts his hands up innocently. "But it wasn't me this time. Prince's honor."

Tenzin gives up, blowing air in both of their faces upon exit, which causes the other two erupt in a fit of giggles.

"What are you two laughing about?"

"Ugh, how many are there?"

"Just two." Kya breathes between laughs, "see Tenzin? Bet you three copper pieces dad comes up in about five minutes."

"Better he doesn't find us, then." Bumi smirks, and jerks his head signaling her to follow, "bring Prince-Pouts-A-Lot if you want."

"I don't pout."

"Sure you don't."

"Whatever. Where's my sister? Mosquito wasps still biting her on the ass?" Another eye roll and he pushes himself up, stuffing the book into his tunic.

"What was that, Kaiyo?"

He registers the voice and freezes, letting out a huff of frustration as he turns, "just talking about your uncanny timing, mother."

Mai offers a smile to the other two as they back away. Bumi puts a hand on Kaiyo's shoulder and squeezes, giving him a nod of good luck.

"Come on, we're having tea."

"We had tea yesterday."

"And we'll have tea today."

The room is the same as he remembers from the day before. The tray settled and steaming at the table's center, and the servants waiting by the frames of the door, always ready to take requests. Silently, and with a wave of Mai's hand they are dismissed, and she pours, pushing another cup toward her son.

It's all silence, and the dishes softly clatter as they set down and pick up, both of them looking straight ahead. She always does this. She waits until the quiet is too much to bare, until he starts playing with the tray, and his gaze flickers back and forth between the door and the opposing wall.

She remains silent so he's forced to think, so he can't dismiss her, and he can't cover up any concerns with plain conversation. Before, he used to assume he was being ignored, that the way her hands gripped the cup were for frustration and annoyance rather than patience, but truly she's just thinking all the same.

"What did I do?" He finally asks, and sets the cup down back on the tray, "you won't tell me, she certainly won't, and I don't really want to ask dad."

"Nothing. I won't tell you because it's between you both, and Zuko and I agreed to allow you your own decisions."

"Decisions?"

"Yes."

"Meaning?"

"What do you want to do when you're old enough to choose, Kaiyo?"

"I…" Weren't these plans already something laid out? He was going to become a soldier, or a tactician, a husband or a sage. That was all it was- all it would ever be, and there was no choosing. Not from his knowledge. "I don't know?" he finishes, knitting his brows together in confusion.

"You have a long time to decide, but I want you to think about it."

"But everyone says-"

"I don't care what they say." Mai glares, before expression softens, "I want you to have that choice, we both do."

There's over twenty dents in the pillar by the time he finds her, and the moment he steps on the grass one of the blades glides just past his ear.

"You could have killed me."

"If I wanted you dead, you'd be dead." Kaida shrugs and throws another, which veers off into a bush.

"You're spending way too much time with your mother."

"But my aim's not as good."

"I'm still not comfortable with you using those." Smiling Zuko takes the last knife from her hands and slips into the sleeve of his robes, "nice day out, huh?"

"Be better if I had a good partner."

"Bumi not letting you use him as a punching bag?"

"I'm not letting him."

"Hm...lucky me." Zuko mumbles, and settles into the grass, "so…"

"No, I haven't."

"I didn't ask yet."

"You were gonna."

Zuko pouts next and lays back, "just a little worried."

Kaida sighs, and starts turning over words in her head. He deserves an explanation, and she doesn't deserve to be mad, much less over something that hasn't happened yet. "Mom and grandmother were talking before, and now i'm just a little confused."

"Why's that?"

"Why's being Fire Lord such a big deal anyway?"

Zuko thinks over his answer thoroughly, inhaling as Kaida turns and lays down, resting her head on his chest, "it isn't. I mean, well-it is, but...look, this isn't even something either of you should be concerned with for a very long time."

"Then why am I so angry over it?"

"Because it's what everyone's forcing on both of you."

"Well, what do you think?"

"Me?" Zuko quirks a brow curling his head up, before just as quickly laying back down, "I think, you should be what you want. Mai and I, we didn't...really get to choose. Ever. Not for a while. Everything we have now, is just luck."

"I wanna be that lucky." She smiles, lacing her fingers behind her head.

"You're twelve, I wouldn't try going for any of this just yet."

"Just a thought."

"Thinking too fast."

She always absorbed those kinds of things. Peeking over her mother's shoulder as she wrote letters while he was away, or sifting through her old books and journals the moment Mai left the room. There was entire life she had begun to sew together, using her parents as the foundation, and in turn growing up much faster than either of them would like.

"It's not a competition." She mumbles, "It's nothing to worry over, I promise."

"Hm?"

"Nothing. I gotta find Kaiyo."

Before Zuko can question she pushes up, and he grunts, watching as she bolts down the halls.

Kaiyo's leaving the tea room with Mai when she sees him, and she hesitates, before shaking her head and ramming into him, squeezing until she hears his joints crack from the hug, "i'm sorry for being stupid."

Gently he returns the embrace, smiling when he's sure she can't see,"You mean now? Or always?"

"Don't ruin it."