The sound of his own voice doesn't startle him anymore.
The hairs on the back of his neck stand up as soon as his eyes fly open, recognition running cold fingers all down his spine. Dacheng's brows knit together in concern – they're somewhere high up, he knows, but he puts it down to being an airbender thing. They're probably at the base of one of the Air temples – Dacheng doesn't really know.
'Why are we here?' asks Kai, but it's a murmur that crawls along the lower tones of his voice, it's a question that's only there for the memory to hear; to answer. Dacheng remains silent, watches as Kai's jaw begins to clench.
'Why did you bring me here?' Kai asks, and although Dacheng knows his old friend would never hurt him – it doesn't stop him from flinching, anyway. It had been a long time since Kai earned his tattoos, after all.
'I don't have any say,' he reminds, gently. 'The Earth decides what it wants you to see, and I help you see it. It wants you to remember whatever happened on this day for a reason.' Dacheng pulls his lip between his teeth, bites back the words dangling on the tip of his tongue.
'But why,' says Kai, but this time there isn't a sliver of anger in his voice, only shreds of brokenness, hints of despair. His voice is a record that's beginning to skip, and Dacheng reaches out to steady his friend.
'You know, you're an incredible airbender.'
'If you're responding in this way, Kai…' Dacheng lets his voice trail off, eyes glazing over with fondness as he looks at the younger version of his friends, aware now, that he misses Jinora too. 'Then I'm sure you know why the Earth wants you here again.'
Kai's jaw unclenches.
'If anyone's a master, you are.'
'Smooth talker even way back when, huh?' jokes Dacheng, nudging at his friend a little, trying to push a smile onto his companion's lips. Kai smirks a little.
'Believe me,' he murmurs, eyes trained on a memory he'd kept so quietly tucked away he isn't sure he can even properly remember it – 'That line got me into a whole lot of trouble with Tenzin.'
The scene unfolds like petals in the morning. There are parts where Dacheng looks over to Kai and catches him smiling – they happen to be the parts where Jinora laughs, or smiles. And it's incredible, he thinks – watching the first sparks fly between two kids who can't see what the future holds for them, witnessing the gravity of their smiles, knowing how it's enough to have kept them together for years.
When you spend years and years studying the Earth and getting to know it, the permanency of emotions, of human beings becomes less and less significant, but with these two – with Kai and Jinora then, and Kai and Jinora of his time – Dacheng can't help but smile. The Earth itself is beautiful, the things it nurtures – even more so.
'This is where it gets rough,' mutters Kai, brow tensing as the days seem to shift in fast forward, and a new scene lays itself out in front of them, one that's almost identical to the one before, except that there aren't any bison around, and there's something metallic about the look Kai has in his eyes, hands clenched in fists by his sides.
'What are you talking abou – '
Dacheng doesn't get a chance to finish his sentence before a net catches around Jinora, forcing her body to the ground. Rock shoots up just beyond where they stand, and Dacheng winces at how badly the Earth rattles underneath their feet.
'I remember being so confused,' says Kai, watching intently as his younger self is captured, unable to tear his eyes away from the scene as he and Jinora are hauled off to a truck, thrown none too gently by the back wheels. Kai's frown deepens.
'We'll take them to Ba Sing Se – with the rest of the fresh meat.'
'Whoa,' says Dacheng, his gaze shifting from Jinora to the lead poacher. 'Did he – did he try to sell you?'
'I wasn't going to let him get that far,' says Kai, through gritted teeth. The dejected look in Jinora's eyes, even after all these years – he remembers all too well how it made him feel.
Fear, despair, desperation – he was familiar with them all, and even though he's sure he hadn't fallen in love with Jinora yet at this stage, there was something in him that made him want so desperately to make her feel better.
Something in him that missed her smile, even though it hadn't left her lips for a full hour, yet.
'I never had anything of my own before,' says Kai, body tense as he watches his younger self pick a lock, tries not to let the twinge in his chest show too much when the poachers start the truck and begin to drive off, Jinora calling his name, still in her cage. 'Nothing that mattered, anyway. You'd know – I stole a whole load of stuff, but that was just… Stuff. Money, clothes, food – things that didn't… Matter. Not in – not in that way.'
His focus shifts from the truck, to the bison flying overhead. When he catches sight of Tenzin, something in him relaxes. It gives him the strength to continue.
'Jinora gave me the first real thing that mattered,' he murmurs, smiling as Tenzin rams Oogie into the side of the truck. 'She gave me her trust, and she had confidence in me – she gave me a place in her family. Those airbenders back there – if it weren't for her, I wouldn't have ever been one of them. Having people finally there on my side, wanting for me to be safe – witnessing that for the first time, it was… Incredible.'
'You got me – I give up!'
'I know we were just kids back then, and I'm only realising this now but – she gave me…' Kai's words wander until they're lost, his focus on the way his younger self is full of fury, unforgiving swipes throwing the poacher against his truck.
'You think you can kidnap Jinora, and all these baby bisons?'
'Kai, that's enough! An airbender never – '
'Attacks a defenceless opponent,' Kai finishes, a wry smile on his lips. There's satisfaction and something like pride settling in Tenzin's face, and Kai's smile grows at the sight of it.
'That was very good technique.'
'Thanks, Dad,' he mutters, muted sorrow in his eyes. Tenzin hasn't said a word to him in so long, he hadn't anticipated how much it would hurt listening to him in a memory.
'The two of you have an amazing bond,' comments Dacheng, smiling fondly as Jinora is freed. 'It's strong enough that the Earth wants to celebrate it.'
'A whole new world, she opened up, for me,' says Kai. 'And we were supposed to see the rest of ours after her expedition – but…' The words are strung up halfway through, and Kai looks like he doesn't know where to clip the next peg.
'You're just going to have to wait a little bit longer, now,' Dacheng offers, an encouraging smile on his lips. 'Just until it's all over.'
Kai nods, eyes still glued to the faint blush that's on his cheeks, identical to the dusting of pink across hers.
'Just until she comes home.'
