Kavi's face regarded me somewhat suspiciously as the words left my mouth. He did not speak for several moments, only turned his head to the sky and closed his eyes. That desperate look to him when I had been leaving seemed long gone, replaced by a peaceful need to react to what I had just proposed.

"Well, Takaani." He said finally, opening his eyes. "How do you suppose I can get you out if you don't plan on leaving with permission?"

I cleared my throat and shrugged nervously. "Um…well…I've been here for years, now. I understand what times the guards switch, and I know where they place each of the water, earth, and chi-blocking guards. It'll be too easy to sneak up on them and temporarily knock them out."

Kavi stared at me with a bit of amusement, though I did see hesitation as he processed my words. "Attack the guards?" I hoped, at this point, he wasn't planning on selling me out. This was too easy for him to fish me out for details and report me with enough evidence to get me expelled. What did he owe Seishin? Nothing. Why would helping me hurt him in any way?

"You don't have to," I hurriedly added. "I just need you to distract them until I get the hit on them. If I get caught, you can say that you tried to stop me from escaping. I'll take the repercussions. I swear to it." My brow set into a hard, determined line.

The airbender still seemed unconvinced that it could work. "Why not use another student?"

Now it was I who seemed unsure and suspicious. "Involve another student? No way. This is my doing, not theirs. I'm only asking you because you're an authority figure here."

"I'm a guest, not an authority."

"You know what I mean. I just…Kavi, I need to leave here and discover myself. I can't stay here with the looks and the accusations and the insults." I was almost pleading. "I *want* this academy to change. I want others to be happy, too. But I have three long, long years left."

"And you think the elder nomads at the temples will help?"

"Don't you? You know them, not me."

"I suppose…"

"Well, don't think of it right away! Take time. When do you leave again?"

"Two days. Around eight in the morning."

"Okay," I breathed a sigh of relief. Two days. "I'll get everything ready and…and if you want to help me, then meet me outside the dinner quarters at 6. If you don't show up I'll assume your answer is no. But if you do…then we'll get the plan rolling. Deal?"

Kavi squinted at me, again looking at me like I was fuzzy or hard for him to read. It made me feel exposed and vulnerable but I allowed it to happen. I needed him to say yes to this plan. Luckily, he agreed, and I was sent back to my dorm with a stomach so knotted with anxiety I almost puked.

My brain thought back to Miki, and how she said it would be hard to get an air nomad to work with me. I think the closeness of the age gap between Kavi and I allowed him to understand my concerns. I wondered if the air nomads at the temple would approve of me breaking out Seishin; Kavi did not seem worried about it, so I suppose the temples really were their own separate world.

Not like I was going to the temples anyway. As much as I wanted to make it seem like I was willing to change the academy, I just wanted to change myself. I wanted the opportunity to expand my wings and grow, to let my spirit touch the planet in ways a room with four walls and syllabus couldn't. Going to the temples was too risky— someone would likely recognize me and report me. I had to leave the Earth Kingdom and keep moving for as long as I could and discover as much as I could.

Later in my dorm, I sat on my bed with a racing heart. The moonlight was pouring into my room and I felt the sudden urge to draw power from it. Shaking that away, I watched the dust particles dancing in the light and thought about how close I was to making it out of here. All I really, honest to god needed was Kavi's help leaving. He would be my distraction, lead me away from the academy, and then I'd have to ditch him. It wouldn't be easy, but I had to, and therefore I would.

I knew I should have been sleeping; eventually I gave up and took a shower. The water passed down over my hard body and I could almost moan at the thought of cleansing away anything that bothered me. I was so at home around water. My mothers had raised me in the Northern Water Tribe, despite the fact that one of them was from the Southern one. I had been told once that the Northern tribe had denied women the opportunity to waterbend— that rule had long since been rewritten and a woman was now their chief. Growing up there was so much fun, I learned so much from the people around me. The elders, the children, the adults… Then, when I was fifteen, both of my mothers decided I would need the assistance of the academy as I got older. I did not mind it at first.

There I was, a fifteen year old girl with shy eyes and shaking hands. I did what I was told. Like all young kids, I grew into myself as I aged. I got harder, leaner, and more skilled. When I was fifteen I was capable of kicking butt — now, by nineteen, I was capable of taking a life with my own two hands. Both of my mothers were badasses, I'd heard stories of them when they were my age and when they were a bit older. Together they were a dynamite duo, knocking down any sort of prejudice that told them they couldn't be who they were or do what they could. I admired them so much for it. Deep in my heart, I could not resent either of my parents for sending me away. At the time it seemed like the right thing to do. I resented them because they never visited, too caught up in their own lives to even visit me in the Earth Kingdom.

Granted they were both busy. My non-bending mother was probably running her business. Yeah, she's a CEO, but even more than your regular CEO. She basically controls the world, having received many different opportunities to engineer the nations and help advance their technology. Her (and mine too) lineage stemmed from the fire nation, and they agreed to let her assist their own attempts to make their industrialization more modern. My mother loved the fire nation, and was close friends with their firelord, Iroh. When Firelord Izumi retired, he was the one to take his place on the throne. He was a cool guy. And, I have to admit, extremely good looking. Firelord Iroh had a intense military background which gave him insight over his soldiers. Despite his royal leadership he still worked alongside his men and women.

My water bending mother was…complicated. I had no idea where she was. She could be anywhere— back in the Northern or Southern Water Tribe, in the Fire Nation, at the temples, or even in the Earth Kingdom. She liked to hover around Republic City a lot, but that was not too far from Seishin. I knew if she was in Republic City she would definitely have visited. So maybe she was in the Spirit World. Who knows.

When I was done showering I crawled back into bed with wet hair and just a baggy t-shirt. Snuggled under the moonlight I willed myself to sleep without wasting time on Kavi. I had to remind myself that other people's choices were not in my control. I would just have to find another way to leave the academy without his help.

The next morning I decided to put my hair up in a tight bun instead of braiding it like I usually did. Always braiding my hair left a permanent wave to it, and it was painfully obvious that not every strand was going to stay tight in my bun. As the day progressed I found myself having more of a messy up-do. Miki joined me during lunch — surprising, since we didn't have chi-blocking today — and babbled on about how her sister had taken it upon herself to fight one of her friends. "That's probably your doing," she laughed.

I smiled. "Yeah, sorry. If I knew she'd follow my lead and start throwing punches…"

"It's okay. Did you talk to you-know-why?" Her blue eyes glanced around anxiously before resting back on me. She had pulled her blond hair back, like I was used to. Her face was bare except for her clear, square glasses.

"Yes," I began, stuffing a piece of bread into my mouth. I spoke around it, glad that Miki didn't think I was ill-mannered for doing so. "He..didn't exactly say no, but he didn't agree either." I filled her in on my story, and she raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"You think you can ditch him?"

"I have to, don't I? I'm not going to the temples. No way, I know people there. Someone will recognize me and drag me right back."

Miki thought and spoke carefully. "Won't everyone recognize you, though? Not in the way you and I are thinking of. But.. they are bound to plaster your face all over the Earth Kingdom if they think you went missing mysteriously."

Wow, she was right. I had thought that I would just keep moving and avoid humans, but you did have to pass guards from town to town. "I guess I'll worry about that when the time comes." It was all I could muster.

"If you do leave the Earth Kingdom, where will you go?"

"I don't know yet. I've never been to the Fire Nation. Maybe I'll go there. They're spiritual."

Miki pressed her lips tightly together. I could guess what she was thinking; that the Fire Nation were spiritual, but not nearly as much as the Air Nomads. They would still attack or arrest me if they had suspicions. Unlike Airbenders, they were not afraid to resort to violence. "I suppose so," she said at last. "I've never been there, either. So tomorrow morning Kavi is supposed to meet you?"

"Yep. I'm nervous. I don't know if he will help me or not."

"He has to! You're a gorgeous girl in distress. What crazy guy wouldn't?" She flashed me a wide grin. I suddenly blushed at her compliment, almost certain she didn't realize it made me a bit flustered.

"You haven't seen him today, have you?"

"Nope. I've only seen him hover around Counselor's office when I drop off the morning report for Advisor Beilara. But he wasn't there today. Probably stuck in his quarters thinking about what the right thing to do is."

"The right thing to do? Then I'm fucked." I bit off another piece of bread ravenously, pitifully.
Miki smiled warmly. "Who knows what the right thing to do here is. Everyone has a different idea of right and wrong. For instance…I think you shouldn't curse with advisors nearby." Her baby blue's flickered to where a few teachers were standing, watching us eat lunch. "But you clearly don't think that's right."

I laughed, swallowing my bread. Picking up my tray, I shook my head. Before I could walk away Miki suddenly realized something and frowned deeply. "If you go, you'll miss our chi-blocking class!"

I glanced back at her and frowned back, turning quick enough so she wouldn't guilt trip me into staying. Not like I thought she would, but the look on her face was enough for me to reconsider. I really liked Miki, and I was sorry to actually leave her behind now that we were, well, friends. I sighed. "Yeah, I will."

And I walked away.