A/N: Thank you Notros and Mierin Eronaile! And an extra-big thanks to BlueLion!
Starting this chapter, many chapters will be split-PoV, because I didn't feel that there was any other way to get through all of the plot that needed to be gotten through. I do admit to worrying that I'm writing Opal and Eska as being too nice to each other. I read another fic where they met and Opal really let Eska have it. I didn't think that it was necessarily bad to write it like that, but it makes me wonder if I should have written Opal as less forgiving at first. Oh well...can't change it now.
"Yes, we did, in fact," Eska said without missing a beat. "That is the entire reason that we left our home in the first place."
"How about we go discuss this somewhere more private?" Mako asked, eyeing the gathering crowd.
Meanwhile, Bolin was saying, "Sorry…sorry…" with a nervous grin as he pushed the slab of rock back into the ground.
Opal's heart ached for Kinalik, who looked utterly miserable and not at all like she had intended any harm. She made a shushing sound as she gathered the weeping child to her chest.
"I'll bet that was scary, wasn't it?" she asked. Kinalik nodded. Meanwhile, Jiao had stalked off with her child, and Bolin's grandma had finally shown up.
"We had a bit of an altercation," Mako explained to her. "Sorry about the lawn."
"Oh pooh, who cares about the lawn?" the old woman said as she waved her hand in dismissal. "We have another earthbender in the family! That's always cause to celebrate."
"Maybe…celebrate later? We have some things to work out," Bolin told her. Opal handed Kinalik over to him while she hurriedly piled as many different foods from the buffet as would fit on a paper plate, in the hopes that the child would find some of them appetizing when she was ready to eat.
The five of them squeezed into Mako's car for the drive home. Opal, not wanting to make the situation any more tense than it already was, volunteered to take the middle seat in the back. They rode to the Sato estate in silence. The only positive was that Kinalik eventually stopped crying.
"There you are!" Korra greeted them as they opened the front door. The smile slid off her face as she saw the mood of the group.
"We need to talk," is all that Mako said.
Once situated in the living room, Eska, reunited with her twin, revealed the whole story at last.
"We had been walking in the courtyard at our palace," she explained. "Kinalik sneezed, and a clay vase some distance away shattered. There were many witnesses, and all of them could grasp what this meant. They may have been able at some point to overlook her illegitimacy and her mixed heritage had she been a waterbender or nonbender, but an earthbender was one thing too many. You should have…I mean, had you been present to see their faces, you would understand our actions."
"We had to choose between our duty to our country or her safety," Desna added. "As you are aware, we chose the latter."
"Did you know about this?" Mako asked Korra.
"Yes, I did. And I agreed with them that abdication would be the best option with regards to Kinalik," Korra answered. "But bending a whole wall? I didn't make my first accidental wall until I was almost six."
"Does that indicate that Kinalik is an unusually powerful earthbender?" Eska inquired.
"I think so, yes. She could potentially be another prodigy like Toph Beifong. I wasn't prepared for this. I was willing to do some basic lessons with her in a few weeks once you were firmly established here, but.." –Korra looked the twins square in the eye–"Now we don't have the luxury of waiting. She doesn't need to learn earthbending so much as she needs to learn how to restrain it. If she loses control of her emotions again, she could injure herself. Or worse. And I'm not completely sure I'm a good enough teacher to handle that."
"Then what do you propose we do?" Desna asked.
An idea had been building in Opal's head during this conversation, and she decided to speak up.
"I think we should take her to Zaofu," she ventured. "Eska, Desna, that's where I grew up. I was going to go there for my birthday in a few weeks anyway; I'll just tell Mom we're coming early. They'd be better equipped for her there."
"I am not familiar with this Zaofu. Nevertheless, if Opal thinks it is the best option…then she's probably right," Eska said. Everyone, including Desna, turned to look at her.
"Why is every person here making prolonged ocular contact with me?" she asked. "I was simply stating the truth."
"You never say that anyone else is right," Bolin whispered in an awed voice.
Opal blushed in spite of herself, as she knew that she was all too prone to doing.
"Zaofu is in the far southwest corner of the continent," she explained. "Not far from Kyoshi Island, actually. It's a pretty isolated place; it can really only be reached by air. Most of the population are earthbenders, and most of those can also metalbend. My mom founded the city and runs it. I think she would be an ideal candidate for a teacher."
"And what about Kinalik's difficulties? Does your mother have experience with those?" Desna asked.
"She does. I have a brother with the same issues."
"There is a slight problem," Eska said. "Desna and I have been having trouble gaining access to the personal funds we inherited upon our father's demise, as well as the remainder of our belongings. Our former advisors want to make the process as difficult as possible. It is unknown how long it will take to get this problem straightened out. But if you truly think that staying any longer here would put Kinalik in danger, than there is no choice in the matter. Opal, you and Bolin must take her there ahead of us."
"Are you sure? We could try to wait a few days," Korra put in.
"No. Even a small risk is excessive." Eska stood up and walked over to Opal. Opal reminded herself to not be too offended if Eska brought up the dolphin piranhas again. But all she said was, "I know you will care for her as if she were your own."
"Of course," Opal replied.
As soon as Opal and Bolin returned to their apartment, Opal made some phone calls. The first one was to let Tenzin know that she'd be gone for a while, and then she called her mother and explained the convoluted situation.
"All right, let's see if I understand this," Mom said. "You're bringing Bolin's ex's special-needs child, whose existence you weren't even aware of until a couple of weeks ago, over here so she can learn how to control her earthbending? And said ex just so happens to be royalty?"
"Uh…yeah, that's about it."
"Hm. Well, of course, you're always welcome to visit, and maybe it's for the best if you come for an extended stay. It might cheer Baatar up. You two were always close."
Opal groaned.
"Don't tell me he's still…"
"Yep. He hasn't left the house in almost a month, and it's all we can do to get him to come out of his room. He's been like this for a year now, and to be honest I don't know what would help him. Or if he'll ever be his old self again."
Opal's heart felt heavy. She hadn't heard any updates about her older brother for a few months, so she had assumed that no news was good news.
"I'll see if I can help. No promises," she warned.
"It's all right. We don't expect you to work miracles."
"Okay…well, I guess I'll be seeing you all in a couple of days," she said.
"We'll be looking forward to your arrival, sweetie. Bye."
"Bye."
After Opal hung up the phone, she and Bolin spent the rest of the day packing their things. This was complicated by Pabu thinking that the open suitcases were a great place to nap, but they managed.
"I think that should about do it!" Bolin said brightly as they checked the contents a final time.
"Did you remember your toothbrush?" Opal asked.
"Uh…I think so."
"If you're not sure, then go check."
He checked. As it turned out, he had not remembered it.
"There! Now that's everything!" he exclaimed. To show off, he picked up both suitcases in one hand and lugged them over to the front door.
"You're so strong," Opal murmured as she pretended to swoon.
"Do you feel up to giving me a little reward?" Bolin asked as he made what he presumably thought was a seductive face and waggled his fingers.
One of the things Opal loved about Bolin was how he could make her laugh, and this time was no exception.
"Oh, knock it off, you rascal!" she pretended to scold. "But yeah, actually, that sounds nice. We'd better make sure we enjoy it, though. With a kid around, it might be a while before we can do it again."
And enjoy it they did.
They were at the airfield bright and early the next morning, with Pabu in his usual place of honor on Bolin's shoulders. Opal was still a little sore, but in a good way.
Eska and Desna met them at Asami's airship. Desna was carrying Kinalik, who looked to still be mostly asleep. Eska handed over the travel bag containing Kinalik's belongings, as well as a list of her preferred foods.
"Kinalik, we must bid you farewell," Eska told her. "You will be cared for by Bolin and Opal for the time being, and will be transported on this flying contraption as we previously discussed. We will reunite with you as soon as possible."
Opal wasn't sure how well the small child understood this. At any rate, Kinalik had no objections about being transferred into Bolin's arms, and appeared to doze off again within seconds. They lay her on a bed in the room next to the one in which they would sleep that night. She continued to nap as the airship took off, and through the rest of the morning.
Bolin and Opal were sitting down to lunch in the galley when Kinalik wandered in. She was rubbing sleep out of her eyes.
"Whazzat?" she asked while pointing.
Opal wasn't sure to what Kinalik was referring, but Bolin said, "Oh, you mean him? This is Pabu. It's kind of weird that you haven't had the chance to meet him until now; usually he goes everywhere with me. Pabu, go say hi."
Pabu obediently leapt down and scurried over. He sniffed Kinalik's hand, and the girl tentatively stroked his head.
"He's a fire ferret," Bolin added.
"Fire?" Kinalik squeaked as she instantly yanked her hand away.
"It's okay to touch him. He's only called that because his fur looks like fire," Opal assured her.
Bolin looked ashamed that he hadn't thought to qualify his statement with those words, and chimed in, "Yeah…what she said."
By the time lunch was over, Kinalik had gotten over her initial fear. Pabu, docile as always, let her pet and play with him as she pleased. Opal was worried at first that Kinalik might accidentally harm the fire ferret in her enthusiasm, but thankfully she didn't appear to be the type of kid who played rough.
She remained occupied with Pabu almost until dinnertime. It was while they were watching her that Bolin brought up Kinalik's pronoun confusion.
"I still don't get why Eska got so annoyed at me," he said.
"Well, some people who are assigned male at birth turn out to actually be female, and vice versa," Opal told him.
"Oh yeah. Forgot about that. The streets don't exactly teach much about the finer points of gender identity."
"Lots of places don't; I guess I just got lucky that Zaofu does," Opal mused. "And she should learn. But we should probably wait until she can tell the difference between 'he' and 'she' before introducing anything else."
They commenced doing this after dinner. Kinalik proved to be both a quick and eager learner, and by the end of the session could use the correct pronoun about half the time. At the very least, it helped keep her distracted for a while longer. It wasn't before they were putting her to bed that she asked the question that they had been dreading.
"Where's Mama?"
They explained to her again that Eska and Desna couldn't be with them at the moment. Kinalik was not mollified.
"I want Mama!" she insisted. Opal suspected that only the presence of Bolin that kept her from having a total meltdown.
"How about we move her into our room?" she asked. "She's probably never slept alone before in her life." She shot Bolin a look which she hoped said, I warned you about the lack of sex.
In the end, it took them moving the bedding and mattress into their bedroom, Pabu jumping up on the mattress to sleep with her, and over an hour of Opal reciting the most boring airbending philosophy that she could think of before Kinalik nodded off.
The next morning, they jumped back into pronoun practice immediately after breakfast. That, along with a chance discovery of a box of fabric scraps which Kinalik used to play dress-up with a compliant if somewhat grumpy-looking Pabu, was enough to occupy her until they arrived at Zaofu that afternoon.
Her parents were waiting at the airfield. Mom stretched out her arms, and Opal ran into them. She felt the stress ebb away as she held on tight. For this moment at least, she could pretend that she was a little girl again, whose problems all had an easy fix.
"I should never have been gone so long," she whispered. She hadn't had a chance to see them since Varrick and President Moon's wedding.
"Well, you're here now, and that's all that matters," Mom replied.
Finally, she let go; Dad needed his hug as well. After Opal could bring herself to let go of him too, and her parents had exchanged greetings with Bolin, she formally introduced Kinalik to them.
"Pleased to meet you, Kinalik," Mom said; she had never believed in baby talk. "I am Suyin, and this is my husband Baatar Senior. It appears that I will be giving you earthbending lessons."
True to form, Kinalik hid her face in her hands. However, she did appear to appreciate the monorail ride; she kept her body attached to the window the entire time.
"It's neat, isn't it?" Bolin said to her. "I did the same thing during my first ride on this."
Opal did notice that the dome shields had not yet been rebuilt. When she mentioned this, Mom grimaced and said, "We keep meaning to do it. But platinum is hard to come by, and we got behind schedule."
When they entered the house, she was immediately bowled over by Wei. That is, she thought it was Wei.
"Welcome home, Big Sis!" he shouted.
"Hey, no fair! Let me join in on the fun!" Wing (?) said as he added himself to the dogpile.
"All right, you two, don't suffocate her!" Mom admonished as she helped Opal up. She was laughing nonetheless.
Opal knew better than to attempt to hug Huan; they exchanged waves as Mom yelled up the stairs, "Baatar, your sister's here!"
Soon footsteps were heard on the stairs; Opal looked up, only to stifle a gasp as her brother turned the corner of the landing and she saw the state of him.
He looked as if he hadn't gotten a decent night's sleep in months. His hair had grown out, as had his beard. And he had lost a significant amount of weight; Opal guessed around twenty pounds. Baatar froze as if reading her thoughts, and looked like he wanted nothing more than to run back to his room. So Opal made herself put on a smile, and said, "It's great to see you again!"
Baatar finally did come down the rest of the stairs and allow himself to be hugged, but seemed reluctant to return the embrace. For her part, Opal tried not to hug too tightly for fear of hurting him; he felt like little more than skin and bones.
"It's good to see you again, too," he said hesitantly, as if he hadn't used his voice in a while.
"Ok, everyone!" Mom exclaimed maybe a bit too perkily as she re-entered the room; Opal hadn't seen her leave. "I spoke with Chef, and he says that dinner's almost ready! And Opal…he made your favorite."
Indeed, raw vegetable wraps were on the menu. Opal was thrilled. She had tried many times to replicate this dish at Air Temple Island, but had never been able to get it quite right.
Of course, her brothers could not fail to notice Kinalik.
"Is there something you'd like to tell us, Opal?" Wing (she knew it was him because their places at the table had name cards) asked slyly. He and Wei snickered.
"That is quite enough from you, Wing," Mom scolded. "I have already explained the situation to all of you. And Wei, elbows off the table, please."
Meanwhile, Opal caught herself up on all the goings-on that he'd missed. She listened to Dad's excited report about the new elevator that he was adding to the public library, and didn't zone out once the entire time, for which she was proud of herself.
"And what are you working on, Huan?" she inquired once Dad was finished talking.
"I apologize, but that is classified information, Opal," he answered. She guessed that it might have something to do with her upcoming birthday, so she didn't pry.
Baatar remained silent throughout the entire meal except to ask Opal to pass the dipping sauce, and excused himself as soon as he was finished eating. She wondered if she had done something to offend him, but Wei told her, "Don't take it personally. It was a miracle that he showed up for dinner at all."
Mom made the shushing symbol, but didn't say that Wei was wrong. The rest of them resumed their meal, only for a crisis to start brewing once Mom noticed that Kinalik had eaten all of the rice out of her wrap and had left the vegetables untouched.
Opal cringed inwardly. She had forgotten to show Mom the list! Come to think of it, she wasn't even sure where that piece of paper was.
"Eat the rest of your food, Kinalik," Mom requested before Opal could say anything.
"No," Kinalik said.
"But vegetables are good for you! Don't you want to grow up big and strong?"
"No."
"Ah, maybe you should leave her alone for to..day…" Bolin trailed off as Mom ignored his and rose from her seat.
"How about just two bites?" Mom asked as she walked over to Kinalik's chair. "Here, I'll help you…"
Kinalik smacked her hand away.
"NO!" she shouted.
"Young lady! We do not hit! And we do not scream either!"
For a split second, Kinalik was shocked into silence by the reprimand. Then she took as big a breath as she could and really screamed. Opal was stunned at how such a loud sound could have emerged from such a small body. Then, while everyone's ears were still ringing, Kinalik threw her plate at Mom. It landed on the floor with a crash, only narrowly missing its target.
Opal's hands flew up to her mouth, and she and Bolin exchanged nervous glances.
"All right, that is it. Timeout for you," Mom said, surprisingly calmly given the circumstances. "Bolin, if you will?"
"All right, Ki, we better do as she says," he told her as he lifted her up from the chair. Kinalik burst into angry tears and tried to attack him with hands, feet, teeth…anything. But he made sure to hold her so she couldn't reach him.
"Well, now I know how Mako felt," he grumbled as he hauled the screaming, red-faced child away.
Once he was gone, everyone stared at each other until Huan broke the silence.
"I like her! She has spirit!" he announced.
"That child is spoiled rotten," Mom declared. She had made a quick retreat from the dining room after the table had been cleared, and Opal had found her sitting in her study.
"Yeah…I don't know what to say. I've never seen her like that before," she answered.
"I didn't think I was being unreasonable, do you?" Mom inquired. "I didn't touch her, I didn't make any sudden movements, and I tried not to raise my voice too much. Those things all helped when Huan was a kid."
"Keep in mind that she lived a pretty sheltered life until a few weeks ago…and she's never been this far away from her mom before. This is a lot for her to process, especially with her issues," Opal said. She sat down on the couch opposite from Mom and resisted the urge to play with the city model. She may have been an adult now, but Mom loved that model and there would still be hell to pay if anything on it broke. At least that was something that didn't change.
"I will try to be more understanding. Still, she needs to learn manners." Mom paused for a few minutes as if in thought, then added, "But not tonight. And probably not tomorrow either."
Just then, Bolin burst into the room.
"Have either of you seen Kinalik?" he asked in a voice that was quite out of breath.
"We thought she was with you," Mom answered with narrowed eyes.
"She was. I put her in timeout and left to call Mako and tell him we got here safely, and when I went back to get her, she was gone!"
Mom facepalmed and sighed, "You were supposed to watch her to make sure she didn't do that."
"Well…well…it's not like I've put anyone in timeout before!"
"She couldn't have gotten far, right?" Opal interjected to prevent an argument from breaking out. She shuddered at the thought of Kinalik getting lost outside…or drowning in the courtyard pool.
"I doubt it," Mom answered quickly. "The doors leading outside were made to be childproof; she's not the first small child here who's tried to make a run for it. She has to be somewhere in this house."
"But this house is ginormous," Bolin pointed out.
"Then we have our work cut out for us, don't we? Start looking."
Mean, mean, mean! Everyone here was mean! Kinalik had learned that word when she had watched Rohan playing, and she liked it. She had thought that Bolin was nice, but it was all a lie.
Why did she have to be here? She wanted to be in her old home, with her mamas, where no one had ever made her eat icky food, and no one wore those scary necklaces.
Tears were running down her face and making her skin all itchy and sting-y. She had no idea where she was anymore; all the hallways looked the same in this house. She'd been running and running and running, and couldn't run anymore. She had to find a place to hide quick quick before they found her!
Kinalik had reached the end of the hallway, so she opened the door there and rushed in.
The room wasn't empty. A man was sitting at a desk.
"Mom, I told you not to…" she–no, he, Opal had told her that men were he–said. Then he looked.
"You're not my mom!" he exclaimed. Kinalik had remembered that Mean Suyin had told her what this man's name was, but she had forgotten already. There were many many names.
"Your name is Kinalik, right? I'm Baatar," the he said.
That was right. There were two men here with that name. It was stupid, which was another Rohan word.
Kinalik didn't say anything. There was also a bed in this room, and she crawled under it and curled into a tiny tiny ball.
"What're you doing down there, huh?" Baatar asked as he got down on his knees and looked at her. His voice was maybe a tiny little bit scary, but it wasn't loud. And he wasn't wearing a necklace.
"Hiding," Kinalik told him.
Baatar laughed. Kinalik didn't see what was funny.
"Aren't we all," he said. "Aren't we all."
After that, he got back up and went back to his desk. It sounded like he was drawing something. Kinalik couldn't see what from here. Things were quiet for a while, but she started thinking about her mamas, which made her start crying again.
"Hey now, what's wrong? Do you want to talk about it?" Baatar asked as he scooted his chair over toward her.
So she tried to tell him about how mean Suyin and Bolin were. It was hard because she was crying.
"I see," said Baatar. "Don't you want to lie on the bed? It's a lot more comfy than that old floor."
"Noooooo."
"All right, then. How about this?" He took the blanket and pillow off the bed and pushed them over to her.
"Okay." The floor was starting to hurt her head. And with the blanket, she could be even hidier.
She arranged the blanket so it covered her entire body, and listened to the scribble of Baatar's pencil. Then she must have fallen asleep, because the next thing she knew, Baatar was talking to someone else. Kinalik turned to look, but all she could see was feet.
"…would have found her eventually," Baatar was saying.
"We were looking for her for over an hour. Couldn't you have said something?" The other person asked. It was Bolin.
"She was very upset. I didn't want to disturb her. I know completely well how Mother can get. She wants to be seen as the 'cool mom,' but it doesn't always work out like that."
"Well, uh, anyway, is she calmer now?" Bolin bent to look. Kinalik quickly closed her eyes again, but not quickly enough.
"It's all right," he said to her. "You're not in any more trouble for tonight. Opal and I made up a nice bed for you in our room. Oh, and Pabu will be there too."
Kinalik decided that she was too tired to keep hiding. And her body ached from lying on the floor. So she crawled out and allowed Bolin to pick her up.
Bolin started to carry her out of the room, but he paused at the doorway.
"You're going to kill yourself if you keep this up," he said.
"Maybe that's the point," Baatar answered.
Kinalik didn't understand, but was too tired to worry about it. She was asleep again even before she got to her new bed.
