Chapter 4

I was in my room when I saw Mom and Dad emerge from their rooms, dressed in flexible dark green clothing. They pulled masks over their heads, red scarves covering the bottom half of their faces.

Why were they dressing as chi blockers? The Equalist movement was supposed to be dead.

My grandparents had been chi blockers during the Equalist movement. They even claimed to fight Avatar Korra themselves. They taught my mom the art, and had met Dad at one of the training sessions. And they taught us how to chi block as well, even after they found out we were earthbenders. Funny how they didn't worry that one of us could be the Avatar, as now the Avatar Cycle came to earth.

When Yena developed firebending, and I developed waterbending, that had worried me. The Avatar was supposed to learn the elements in the Avatar Cycle order; earth, fire, air, water. Last Cycle, it was Korra, who representing water. Now it came to earth, Yena and I. We had to learn fire, air then water. What did that mean, that Yena was developing the elements in order while I wasn't?

Yena was out with friends, so that left me to investigate. Maybe I could call her.

I darted for the phone, dialing the number, grumbling impatiently as the dial reset to zero each time so I could enter the next number. Grabbing the ear piece and mouth piece, I waited.

One of Yena's friends answered, a particularly snobbish one with a nasal voice that drove me insane.

"What do you want Tiana?" she asked. I winced as her nasal tone escaped from the ear piece.

"Just put my sister on the phone will you? I don't have time for dealing with you," I snapped.

There was silence as Yena's friend left the phone, then rustling when someone picked it up.

"Tiana? Is there something wrong?" she asked.

"Mom and Dad are dressed up as chi blockers."

"So?"

"So, we have to find out why. This could be big."

Another silence. "Alright, I'll come. Meet me at Central City Station. The party is really lame anyway," she added in a hushed tone.

I just hung up. I didn't want to hear about her social problems. She would tell me later anyway, if I wanted to know or not.

Running into my room again, I flung my hands out for my whips. They shot out and wrapped around my arms tightly. I bound my hair into a bun and then pulled on a hat to cover it.

Grabbing a blue scarf, I wrapped it around the lower half of my face. I swept out of the house, stopping at the sidewalk. Satomobiles raced by, chugging and sputtering. I had to get to Central City Station. I could take one of the cable cars but that would take too long. My eyes darted to a descending metalbender blimp. I let my whips snake out, making sure they were secure around my wrists. I willed them to attract to the metal floating above. The whips strained upwards, tightening painfully on my wrists. The attraction between the two metals was too strong. I shot into the air with a speed of an arrow as the whips sought purchase around one of the blimp's rails.

I pulled myself up and rested my feet on the railing as it went by. The air was nice up here, free of the smells of gas and garbage. The cold seeped into my jacket, the fabric snapping in the wind.

"Hey! You there! How did you get up here?"

I turned to see a metalbender cop in full gear, standing on the planks. Oh great. Before I really thought about it, I leaped off the rail, my body plummeting down. My whips shot out to catch the ledge of a building, but they weren't long enough. Not like the ones the metalbender cops had. I shot downwards, in a star position. I would be a pancake on the pavement.

My heart was in my throat. I couldn't breathe; there was not enough oxygen to pull into my lungs. My heartbeat deafened me.

Thump-thump. I saw Central City Station growing closer, the statue of Fire Lord Zuko cupping a handful of flames growing bigger.

Thump-thump. I reached out with my whips again. Still not long enough.

I waved my arms in a circular motion, hoping that maybe some water or earth would come to catch me.

It was too late now. I was going to be crushed.

I reached out with my whips, the ends curling around the cables for the cable cars. I would still hit the ground though, I'd still be dead.

Whoosh.

Air cushioned my body as I swung below the cables and landed hard on the pavement. I looked around. There were no airbenders in sight or my sister. Did that mean I did that?

I ducked into an alley, making sure no one was watching. Channelling my energy into my palms, I threw them out. A gust of air whistled down the alley, following the flow of my energy. I could airbend.

But I wasn't going to tell Yena. Something in my gut told me not to, not yet.