"What?" Sunni asked, simultaneously trying to scan the crowd and maintain eye contact with Kanna. "Is she mad at me? Where is she?"
Kya was nowhere to be seen among the crowd. Now her full attention was on her nephew's grandmother. "Where is she Kanna?"
The old woman stayed silent. Melanie and Brian could recognize the beginnings of an attitude rising in Sue-Ann's voice but Melanie gave Brian a slight shake of her head to stop him from interfering.
"However irritated she is with my...lack of communication, she would never deny me an opportunity to explain myself. And you have no right to deny me her, so…"
No one moved. Sunni shrugged and began to head in the last direction she vaguely recalled Hakoda's living quarters being in. They silently watched her go. The village was quite different she noticed, somewhat smaller. Luckily, being the tribe chief, his tent was still recognizable as she got close.
"Sunni, wait!" Kanna called out rushing behind her, but she was too late. Peeling back the tent Sunni processed its vacantness. There was many things inside the tent but they were all folded and stacked neatly in their places. It was sterile, unused, this was not the active home of any person much less a family.
"Sunni you have been gone a long time…. Much has…. Happened in your absence."
"What is this?! Where are they! I will find her." Suni snapped and noticed a rough map sketch in the snow off in one corner. "Dammit!" Sunni swore " I told her not to look for me, I told Hakoda not to let her follow! What were you all thinking?! She had a child! How long have they been gone Kanna!"
Kanna seemed at a loss for words, and a village woman next to her spoke up.
"Your sister….. Has been gone for 6 years." the woman answered clearly but somewhat hesitantly.
Sunni's eyes widened "Six ye-"
"Sunni, Kya is dead." Kanna stated abruptly
Sunni stared at Kanna struggling to comprehend. "Kya?"
Kanna sighed. With orders that Sunni didn't hear, she was led to a small fire where the Flock, along with Brian, Melanie, and Brigid were already being led to as well.
"Please sit." the tribe members asked heating up large bowls of water over the fire. The sun was setting and food was being prepared for supper as Kanna began to explain to Sunni and company.
"I'm sure where ever you've been, you have heard of the fire nation's… political strategies."
Sunni didn't answer. So Melanie spoke up for her "We visit a wide variety of places in our line of work, and have noticed a… growing reach in the Fire Nation diaspora you could say."
"They're fucking everywhere." one woman spat. Melanie blinked but didn't say anything more.
"They were here," Kanna continued, "6 years ago. Looking for waterbenders."
Brian's frown deepened and he suddenly spoke "But it's not illegal is it? What jurisdiction could they possibly have over you. Most people don't even know elementals like you exist. What their doing must legally be..."
"You are wrong." Kanna replied tersely. "Most people are of our blood, our traditions and history, and it is only the small portion you belong to, that is ignorant to our existence. And now with each passing decade our influence grows. The Water, Earth, and Air tribes have largely stayed to ourselves maintaining a balanced, inconspicuous mix in the society at large. But, there are some forces of Fire Nation decent across the world who have proved themselves hungry for change and ambitious. A silent genocide has happened right under your noses," Kanna glared at Brian "but in every report the true connection between the persecuted populations is routinely overlooked. Or buried and hidden from the public. But even unspoken, we all know. You'd be truly ignorant not to notice."
She paused here and the silence hung thick. Max looked around but none of the tribe members would meet her eyes.
"Who are they killing?" Nudge asked, unable to hold back her curiosity.
A darker woman in the tribe spoke up to answer her question "Airbenders are all but extinct. There have been many unrelated bystanders caught in the crosshairs but their target is clear. They have been wiped out globally… all save for one. Well, unless they're hiding really, really well, but that is doubtful…" The woman trailed off but then cleared her throat and continued looking at Brian. "Slowly but surely anyone who practiced has been eliminated, outright murdered or disappeared in one way or another. And the the Water tribes are next. Is it legal? Maybe not officially. But it is happening at the hands of those in power. They came back here 6 years ago on rumor of a single waterbender among us. We don't know how they got their information, not that we were exactly keeping it a secret. But we thought-"
"But I've been gone for almost 9 years, I didn't even stay in contact! How could they have come for me, how is that information even accurate!" Sunni snapped
"No, not you." Kanna said. "Katara. Your niece."
"My…? The baby…?" Sunni was suddenly overwhelmed with the full weight of all the years she'd missed. Her own family, that she'd run away from. A niece who knew nothing of her aunt. A sister who spent her final years severed from her sister.
Kanna shook her head " Sokka is still Sokka. Kya was likely in early pregnancy when you left. She had 2nd child as well, a daughter. Her bending was apparent from infancy. Katara was 8 and Sokka was 9 when they came."
The tears were flowing silently down Sunnis' face steadily now, one after the other. "What did they do to her!" she wailed her voice cracking on the final syllable.
Kanna began to tear up as well "They came with vague information, it could've been anyone. They didn't make any announcement but I overheard one of them alluding to their search. I, of course, can't know exactly what transpired, and the kids were too young to remember much but I can guess. Why else would they have only killed her and no one else. Whatever she told those soldiers, I suspect it saved her children, and the village. For now anyway. They left almost as quickly as they came… and Kya's slain body was discovered exactly where they left her… where they found her, in her home. I imagine they're headed off to the north now, picking off whatever small pockets of water benders they might come across along the way. Perhaps others will be more careful than we were though. We saw the signs and yet-" her voice broke off
"There must be someone that you can tell, I understand not feeling that politics are exactly trustworthy but if you are as prolific as you say surely there must be some government sympathetic to your people, some state who can stop it!" Brain blurt out, emotional in his own way.
"Stop it? This war has been underway for nearly 100 years. You all have had your chance. There is only one man who can end this now."