This fic is also on my tumblr blog where my username is Kuno-chan and my blog name is Dragoness Ramblings.
Disclaimer: Legend of Korra belongs to Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko.
This fic is co-written by kuno-chan and spiritypowers.
Story Time
As stifling as the walk back to Zuko's with him was, Jinora almost preferred spending a good twenty minutes in his presence to taking the buggy back. Anything was preferable to being back in the buggy with Kai, really.
Rama and Taani were holding onto both her hands as they turned the corner into Zuko's estate, where the gate was wide open for them.
The door opened even as they were approaching it, Zuko's smile soft and warm as he beckoned the family in. The smell of baked apples and cinnamon wafted through the door, and Nima grabbed her siblings' hands and bolted into the dining room, where a fresh batch of apple turnovers were waiting for them.
Zuko shrugged at Kai and Jinora.
"I figured they'd all want a first-day treat after school," he said. "And Nima never turns down a treat."
Jinora actually smiled at him.
"Thanks, Zuko," she said, as they slowly headed toward the dining room. "From the sounds of it, they had a big day."
Kai had gone in after the kids and, Jinora saw, the way Nima offered him her last piece of her turnover, but Kai only shook his head at her, grinning, and probably telling her to eat it. A pang of something sharp made her let out a breath at Rama making conversation with his father.
"And they even have a tank with the fishies in them," he told his father seriously and Kai smiled wide.
"Yeah? Lots of fishies? All kinds?" he asked his son, sharing in his interest and glee.
"All kinds," said Rama, nodding as he took another bite of his turnover. "Right, Taani?"
Beside him, Taani nodded.
"Sounds like you all had fun, then," said Kai, planting a kiss on the top of the twin's heads then Nima's. "But Daddy has to get going, okay? He's got to go see someone right now for something important. But I'll call later on tonight?"
"Aww!" Nima frowned sadly. "But we've been at school all day and you just got here…"
"I know, baby girl," he said gently. "But this is really important and if it all goes well the I'll be able to see you a lot more often hopefully… okay? I promise I'll call later on tonight though. In fact, I'll stop by before you go to bed. If it's okay with Zuko, that is."
"You're more than welcome to," said Zuko, smiling.
Kai looked back at Nima, grinning.
"See?"
"...kay. But you better promise."
"I promise," he said, kissing her forehead. "Is that okay with you?"
After a moment of looking at him somewhat suspiciously, she nodded, giving him a quick hug before he got up to left after giving the twins quicks hugs as well.
Kai stood up and, for a moment, looked at Jinora, who was looking anywhere but at him. He rubbed his neck nervously.
"So...I'll see you later?" he said, and it almost would have been endearing if their history hadn't been so murky.
"Sure," Jinora said, still not smiling. Detached and non-committal, like he, quite frankly, deserved.
He nodded, then exchanged a brief goodbye with Zuko before walking out the door. Unfortunately, not for forever.
Nima tugged on her mother's hand. "Mom, can we all sleep in my bedroom again?"
That got Jinora to finally smile. "Of course, baby girl," she said, the words barely out of her mouth before Nima started leading her and the twins up the stairs. She exchanged a quick goodnight wave with Zuko as she ascended the stairs and was herded into Nima's room with the twins. Nima then shut the door, locked it, and pulled out the fairytale book.
That fairytale book.
"Have you been trying to figure out how to break the curse yet? Or do you need help learning who everyone in Fablebrooke is? I still can't find your dad, but-"
"Okay, sweetie, let's slow down a bit," Jinora said, sitting next to her on the edge of her bed. "How...how long have you been reading this? And how many people have you told?"
"I told Miss Hee, some of our friends from school, and Pabu - that's my therapist - but that's it. I don't wanna tell too many people, just in case."
Jinora pursed her lips. "Why do you think there's a curse on this town?"
"I just know," Nima shrugged. She smiled sadly. "...You don't believe me, do you?"
Jinora reached out and stroked her daughter's hair. "I...I believe that you believe it," she said. "And I don't know if I believe it, because...well, it's a lot, and I haven't been in this town for very long. And everything's been really busy lately, especially with your father coming back-"
"Why don't you love Daddy anymore?" When Nima asked, this time Rama and Taani also looked at Jinora, even if Taani seemed to be looking more past her. A lump grew in Jinora's throat.
"It's...hard, when people don't see each other for a long time. I didn't even know he was coming back." Jinora opened her arms and gathered her children close to her, Nima and Rama tucked into either side of her and Taani seated on her lap. "But we both still love all of you, okay? Earlier we were at the Jasmine Dragon and talking about you, and where we're all going to live. I mean, where I'm living and where he-"
"We're all gonna live together again?" Nima perked up. Jinora froze.
"I… I don't know if your father and I are going to live together, but-"
"What did Daddy say?"
Jinora tried not to grumble. "He...thinks we should all live together, since it would save money-"
"Can we? Please?" Nima pleaded, her green eyes shining.
"Sweetheart… I don't think that's a good idea," said Jinora, shaking her head.
Nima deflated, her shoulders slumping and her eyebrows turning up.
"Why not…?" she asked in a small voice.
"Because… it's just… because," said Jinora. "Besides, aren't you happier here with Zuko? You have so much space and so many rooms-"
"We can't live with you and Daddy?" asked Nima, looking as if the book in her hands was going to slip out of her fingers.
Jinora paused. No. No, she wouldn't move in with him. Not now and not ever again. The kids would have to just get used to that arrangement. It wasn't as if Rama and Taani had much to get used to anyway, however, Nima was going to have to live with it.
The "No" formed in her throat, but Jinora found it unable to come out as she stared into her daughter's big eyes full of something more than hurt. It was like devastation. The devastation Jinora probably would have seen had she ever really had the "your father left us" talk with Nima in full so many years ago.
She tried to say no again, opening and closing her mouth to do so, but no matter how many times she did she just couldn't get the short little word to come out.
Finally, she sighed.
"Would it make all of you happy?"
Nima nodded vigorously. Rama nodded as well and Taani followed a beat after him, albeit slowly.
"Please?" asked Nima, dropping the book right on the ground and stepping around it to get a hold of her mother around the waist. "Please, please, please?"
Jinora bit her lip, patting Nima on the back and nodded only very slightly. She wasn't sure if she had taken it as an answer, Nima still looking up at Jinora with big, desperate eyes. Unable to keep looking at them about this, she only smiled a little.
"Why don't you play with the twins, okay? I need to go talk to Zuko."
Nima let go very reluctantly, almost confused and anxious.
"Are we moving in with Daddy?" she asked very quickly.
Jinora swallowed hard.
"Let me go talk to Zuko first. Okay, sweetie?"
When Nima nodded, Jinora left the room and went downstairs, catching Nima ask the twins about homework to do and paperwork to sign as she did.
She had pulled out her phone before reaching the bottom of the staircase, and for a moment she just stared at it.
Jinora had always chastised herself for not deleting Kai's contact information from her phone. It had remained untouched for the past five years, that same little heart icon by his name taunting her like a recurring nightmare. She took a deep breath, before tapping the number under his name. She brought the phone up to her ear. It rang only once before she heard his voice.
"Jinora?"
Her throat threatened to close up on her. "Kai. Um, sorry it's so late-"
"No no no, don't be! It's- it's good to hear from you."
Jinora coughed against the lump growing in her throat. "Um, I just…" She cleared her throat again. "I just wanted to call to...ask if we could meet up later tomorrow? To talk about...living arrangements."
She could practically hear the lopsided grin in his voice. "Yeah?"
"Yeah. I, um, I talked to the kids about it, and...we'll talk after we drop them off at school. We can get tea at the Jasmine Dragon again, or...something."
"That sounds great," Kai said, his voice earnest and cheerful. "I'd love to. I'll see you tomorrow, then?"
"Yeah," Jinora said, her voice sounding forced. "Um, goodnight."
"Goodnight, I lov-" His voice halted abruptly, and Jinora thought her heart would either jump out of her throat or sink to the bottom of her stomach. "I mean, uh, you...have a good night."
Jinora hung up, her head spinning at what he almost said. She shoved the phone into her pocket, refusing to give it any more weight than needed.
She walked back upstairs, grateful to see the kids yawning under the covers. She slipped in beside them, allowing them to cuddle up around her, their shared warmth melting her heart in the cold air.
-:-:-:-
Pema yawned into her hand as she looked up at the clock. Five minutes past her usual night volunteer shift.
Slowly, she got up, not in a rush to get going. It wasn't like anything especially interesting was waiting for her at her apartment. More spelling to be corrected, most likely.
"Well, here's to hoping you wake up soon," she said to the coma patient lying in the gurney next to her. She'd been reading one of the old books she usually assigned to the fifth graders aloud to him, as she did with every patient in the coma ward at Fablebrooke's tiny hospital. She looked at the patient she'd stayed with tonight, smiling down at him with the tiniest bit of pity. He looked quite a bit older than her, not quite old enough to be considered middle-aged but well beyond his 20's. Dark hair grew in a scattered mess from his head, extending down to a full beard around his closed mouth. His eyelashes were long, scattering the dim fluorescent light of the hospital across his face. He wasn't terrible to look at, and was probably fairly handsome for his age when he was awake.
Pema closed the book, slipping it into her large purse before she walked towards the door.
"Well, goodnight…" she looked up at the nurse close by. "Sorry, what was his name again?"
"We saw the name Tenzin on a handkerchief among his belongings, but that's all we know," the nurse shrugged. "He's been here for the longest time."
"Oh. Well, night, Tenzin," Pema said, nodding towards the patient that wouldn't wake anytime soon, "and goodnight, Nurse Shung."
"Night!" the nurse called out, and Pema walked out the door.
Sometimes, she had to wonder about the coma patients. She hardly knew any of their names, no matter how many times she read to them. Who were they when they were awake? Who were their families? Did they have friends? Loved ones?
Pema yawned again, and the thought left as quickly as it came. First things first, she just needed to get back to her apartment for a good night's sleep.
After all, the kids would be counting on her in the morning.
-:-:-:-
"So, how do we do this..?" Kai asked tentatively as he and Jinora walked from their meeting point at the park with the pond.
"Carefully. Without you getting in my way all the time and definitely with separate rooms," said Jinora, scornfully, walking fast as if to escape him. "Let me make it abundantly clear that I am doing this for the kids. I think if I told them no to this Nima might go crazy…"
Kai frowned.
"She just wants to see us get along. I know-"
"She has to live with it," said Jinora stiffly. "I'm trying, but you don't know. You really don't and I'm not going to sit here and explain it to you. And right now it's too cold for me to try and explain too much to you so let's just get to the tea house, okay?"
Kai apparently took that in stride and walked silently behind her without so much as even an audible sigh. Good. Now if he could just be like that all the time. And how dare he mention what Nima wanted? She knew what Nima wanted, but granting her daughter that wish was easier said than done.
Jinora swallowed hard.
She wanted to give her kids everything… but some things just weren't possible.
They arrived at the Jasmine Dragon, Jinora glad to be out of the cold. Briefly, she scanned the place to find a red-headed man sitting in the corner, Opal and Toph going from table to table, a couple of Opal and Bolin's kids and a few other people she didn't recognize. One man sat alone at a table, sipping tea rather calmly. While she only recognized a few faces in the shop, this man seemed out of place almost. He had long, slicked back black hair laid luxuriously over his shoulders and down his back and he wore a black suit with an amber shirt and tie of the highest quality. The man was tall - a little taller than Kai, in fact - and he was broad in the shoulders, easily and perfectly filling out his suit. His eyes were a dark amber, matching his shirt and tie and his skin was about as dark as Kai's.
She began to slip her coat off, walking over to hang it on the coat rack near the door when Kai tugged her away, rushing out the door with her held close by. His grip was still secure around her arm when they were a few blocks away, and he turned the corner, his eyes scanning his surroundings.
Jinora tried to wrench herself out of her grip. "What-"
He pulled her along once more, leading her across the street and through the doors of the library, now glistening with polish and almost completely organized. He brought her the the back of the library, behind a few shelves of classical novels.
"Sorry," Kai mumbled, releasing her slowly.
Jinora rubbed her upper arm where he'd held her, not sure whether she was trying harder to convince him or herself that his touch had been entirely unwelcome. "What was that?"
"I…" Kai pinched the bridge of his nose, his eyes shut tight, as if he was in pain. Then, he opened them again, his eyes wide and frantic as he looked into Jinora's face. "I told you it would take a while to fully explain why I left-"
"And I told you that I don't want to hear it," she said, immediately ready to leave when he mentioned that topic, but he grabbed her arm and she looked at him sharply.
"Don't start. Just listen. I'll make it short and quick, okay?" he said quickly, not letting her go.
Jinora rolled her eyes.
"What is it? Make it quick."
"That guy you saw back there? In the suit?"
Jinora frowned.
"Yeah…?" she asked slowly.
"That...that was my dad."
Jinora's eyes widened, and for a moment, she couldn't speak. Her mind raced, attempting to put together memories from conversations that had happened long ago, details of her ex's past long filed away in the back of her mind surfacing again. His father had left him in the middle of Republic City at ten years old from "far away" - for someone who had grown to become so open with himself when they were together, he'd always been cryptic about his past, and she'd never questioned it, having never really had a past herself - he hasn't been the perfect father exactly, but Kai had loved him growing up anyway, till he'd changed, become distant, power-hungry… Her mind halted there. It wasn't much to go off of.
"You...but…" Jinora shook her head, trying to clear the cobwebs from her brain. "I don't understand."
"It's okay," he said quickly. "Just… stay away from him. Please."
"You don't-"
"Jinora, please, it's what this is all about, okay? Can you do that one thing? If there's anything I need you to do it's please stay away from my dad. He's just not good news. For you and for the kids." He shook his head, rubbing his face. "Oh, God keep the kids away from him. Just please. Please…"
Jinora squinted at him, ready to spat that she could do whatever she wanted, but something about the look in his eyes made her just frown at him. As if the mere thought of her interacting with his father overwhelmed him and as much as she didn't like Kai right now, she also couldn't get behind the man. As much as she hated to admit it with all her might, she couldn't like the man who'd hurt Kai.
He was in some way indirectly and partially to blame for Kai being the man he was today. His hurting Kai probably caught up with her and their children through Kai himself.
Jinora sighed, turning away.
"Fine," she mumbled. "It's not like I like the guy anyway."
And that was the truth.
"Good," said Kai, letting out a breath of relief. "So…"
"So, do you have a place?" she asked quietly, looking at everything but him.
"Um, yeah. I'm renting this house out. It's small, but…"
"Fine."
There was a pause between them.
"What…?"
"Fine. Let's just do it. I don't want to talk about this too long with you," she said curtly. "Zuko says he's fine with the kids moving in with us. He thinks it'll be good for them and it'd make them very happy. All he asks is if he can visit. I'll do it if they want and if there's room and that's it. That's all. I'm doing it for them and only them. We get separate rooms and all that. I hate this, but when I accidentally mentioned it to Nima and that was my mistake, but it was the only thing in the world that would make her happy so here we are. Do we have a deal?"
This time she finally looked at Kai, seeing him nod and trying to keep down an apparent smile.
"Yeah, yeah," he said, a faint curve of his lips trying to force itself through. "That sounds great- I mean, that sounds just fine. The kids will like it. You'll see-"
"Don't get me wrong. I absolutely hate this," she told him, the curve of his lips faltering much to her satisfaction. "I hate this and I hope you know that every day. When I say this is for the kids I mean this only for the kids. This means nothing to me. If anything, it makes it worse."
She could see him swallowing hard, his shoulders having slumped slightly and he frowned, seeming a cross between disappointed and annoyed. Not that she cared.
"Are we done?" she asked him. "We can iron out the living details, later?"
He nodded again, this time less enthusiastically.
"Yeah… I'll, uh, I'll call you later."
With that, he turned and walked away, hands in his jean pockets and head down. The stance of someone who felt defeated. She snorted.
That was just fine with her. Now, he knew a fraction of how she'd felt.
-:-:-:-
"I'm really not sure what you expected." Skoochy slurped up his noodles and Kai resisted the urge to glare at him, because, well, he was right.
He thanked Opal for the water refill as she stopped by their booth in the back of the Jasmine Dragon, picking at his own plate thoughtfully. "I know, what was she supposed to think when I left? But...I didn't expect her to be so...acidic."
"Like you said, you did leave," Skoochy pointed out.
"To protect them," Kai reminded him, his voice taking on an edge. "And it's not like you gave me much choice-"
"Hey, don't shoot the messenger," Skoochy said, holding his hands up. "Anyway, what's more important right now is getting the Savior to remember the Enchanted Forest. Did she still have anything from back home with her when you...met?"
"Not that I know of," Kai said. "She constantly told me that she wished she could remember anything before the age of ten. And it doesn't seem like she's gotten any closer to remembering." He took a bite of his noodles while Skoochy tapped his against his plate in thought.
"Maybe we'll just have to keep slowly reminding her."
"How?"
Skoochy shrugged. "Bring up little things that were unique to home. Draw pictures or something if you're into that. I think your daughter even has a book about it."
Kai paused. "Nima knows?"
"Probably," said Skoochy. "You can ask her."
Kai sighed. "I mean, this is all assuming that Jinora's willing to exchange one civil word with me any time soon."
Skoochy shrugged. "You got her to like you once. Just do it again."
Kai rolled his eyes. "You don't think I'm trying?"
"I don't know how this works," said Skoochy, gesturing to Kai. "Try starting with story time with the kids or something. They'll want both their parents and you get to try jogging her memory with the storybook. And I'll do what I can when I see her again, provided she starts remembering who I am."
"Fine," Kai said, sighing as the bill was placed on their table. He dragged his hands down his face. "You know, my life was a lot simpler when I was able to leave all this stuff about the Enchanted Forest behind."
"Yeah, well, that's the thing about the Enchanted Forest," said Skoochy, getting up. "You don't get to decide when you're done with it. It decides when it's done with you." He pulled his jacket on, laid his share of the payment on the table, and gave Kai a short wave. "Good luck."
"Thanks," Kai said with a stiff nod, before Skoochy walked out the door.
Kai dug out a few bills to pay off his own order before getting up out of his booth chair and walking out the door himself. Light droplets of drizzling rain pricked at his face once he stepped outside, and he shivered as he walked back to the little collection of neutral-colored houses just east of main street.
He looked up at the sky, the clouds above gray and foreboding.
Kai shook his head. If anyone could remember, if anyone could save this town, their people, it was Jinora. He'd always known she was special, even before he'd learned she was the Savior.
He just hoped he could save what they'd had before, too.
It has been far too long since we've updated, but this fic still has a couple chapters in the queue. We just have been so busy that we haven't been able to really write anything more lately. Hopefully though, once school takes a break we can get back down to business! For now, here's another chapter! I was reading some of it myselff and I have to say I'm still happy with the angst in this fic.
As always, we love it when you guys leave those reviews! They really motivate us and keep us writing! Thank you for reading! Tune in for next chapter!
