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

Worried Twins

Rama watched the older boy leave. He looked at his sister beside him watching too.

"You think Dad's really gonna hurt him if he ditches us?" He asked, glancing back at Danuma as he disappeared into the crowd swarming around Shukhekou in the middle of the day.

Taani nodded. "Yes," she said, her voice so soft and toneless. It was always like that. Like a gentle wind incarnate into sound. She hardly spoke, but when she did it was most often to him. A lot of times, she gathered whatever gossip was going on around the ship - most of their family seemed to have a hard time detecting her when she was just around the corner. He couldn't blame them. Taani was like a phantom she was just so quiet.

By the end of the day, all that gossip was usually shared with him and he did the same with her. Together, they could usually piece together whatever it was people were trying to hide from them.

They were twelve. Not stupid.

The latest bit of news had been a threat their father made to the new guy that had boarded their ship. Initially, Rama hadn't had much interest in him aside from pure rage, but once that had subsided, nothing of real worth made him want to get to know the guy. However, that had changed somewhat when he apologized to Taani. Anybody who apologized to Taani, in earnest, couldn't be so bad, could they?

That being said, he didn't forget about what he'd heard concerning Nima. He knew what part the guy had played in his sister's death, but perhaps he had decided to be not quite so angry when he stopped being upset with his father. After all, he knew his father hadn't meant for this all to happen… no matter how much it hurt and tore a hole inside of him.

Perhaps Danuma was the same way.

Either way, the guy wasn't on his total shit list. Well, not anymore. His main concern, however, was for his father. Sure, his father had made many threats in the time that Rama was alive, but he'd never been one to threaten assassination. Not unless the person really deserved it. Like Captain Quil. He definitely really, really deserved it for what he'd done to his sister, to his family… for tormenting Nima even when he wasn't around. It was no secret that she didn't sleep at night all too well.

More often than not, he'd spot her walking around at night when he just needed a drink of water. He never asked about it. At the time, he never cared. Now, he wondered if that had anything to do with how they had all ended up in this position.

"What are you two doing?"

Rama looked over and up his shoulder at his tall, brawny Uncle Imaru, his uncle's arms crossed over his chest with his brows raised.

"Nothing," said Rama. He could also see Taani shaking her head out of the corner of his eye.

His uncle raised a brow, a smile playing on his lips. "Oh, yeah?" He reached over and took the two under each arm. "Or are you two just being nosy?"

Rama grinned for what felt like the first time in a forever. It was such a normal thing. Such a normal, little thing. "Like you and Uncle Lefty?"

"Uncle Appa," he heard Taani mention quietly from her side.

"Oh, yeah, we can't forget him," laughed Rama. "You three are like a news gazette."

"Better to keep an ear out for you two muskrats," said Imaru, ruffling his hair as he finally let go of Rama with a playful shove. Taani, on the other hand, stuck to his side, perfectly content to be hugged by her favorite gardening buddy at the moment. "Now, then. In all seriousness, what were you two talking about? I know you got chores to do."

"That guy," said Rama, pointing toward town.

"Danuma?"

Rama nodded. "Yeah, well, you know since Dad threatened him and all. I'm just wondering if Dad really will do it."

Imaru frowned. "How did you hear about that?"

"How did you hear about it?"

Imaru opened his mouth as if to protest, but shut it and shrugged affirmatively. "I guess you gotta point there." He sighed and crouched down with a wince so that he was more on level with them. "Look, kids. I know you're worried about your dad. Truth is, we are too. But we also have to trust him. Get me?"

"Trying," Taani said.

Uncle Imaru pursed his lips, he put a hand on her head. "I know you are… it's okay to be worried you know. Your dad thinks about you two and your sister more than anybody else on earth. Except maybe your mom and even then. Maybe you should tell him you're worried. Maybe it will help him more hearing it from you than it is hearing it from us."

"You think?" asked Rama.

"Maybe. I don't know. But what I do know is that he loves his three kids more than he loves anything else in the world. Your place in his heart is too special from him not to hear it."

Rama looked at his sister. She stared back at him with that same blank, sleepy expression, but, after a moment, she raised her chin just the slightest. Ever so slightly in the way only Rama really ever noticed. He nodded.

She thought it was a good idea.

"Okay," he said. "Okay, we'll go tell him. You think we should talk to mom first?"

"It can never hurt, can it? She wants to know what her babies are up to and I think she could really stand to hear your voices right about now, anyway."

He also could agree to that. It also occurred to him that he should probably apologize to her for his outburst on that day. She would understand. After all, she was his mother and she probably knew how he felt, but it still seemed like something he should do. It felt almost wrong not to now that he'd simmered down about the whole thing even if Nima being gone still hurt like nothing else had.

Nobody did this, but the captain who put his sword through her body.

-:-:-:-

Before dinner, his mother had a tendency to pick up a book and find somewhere below deck to read if she was done with her chores. Most of the time, Rama knew where to find her. He knew her favorite spots. If she wasn't in her room, then she was maybe in the dining hall and if she wasn't there, then she was usually tucked into one of the storerooms - preferably the one with the bigger window than the rest for the better lighting since that one never failed her, even when it was cloudy outside.

When he was little, before he could read very well, sometimes he would beg her for a story before dinner and she'd take him to one of her favorite reading spots and read to him any story he chose. There were times she didn't even need a story. She would use myths she knew or just make up a tale on the spot. No matter what she chose, it always made him pay attention.

He and Taani found her that day in the room Taani and Uncle Imaru would use to garden. The flower pots were reinforced onto their tables and the tables carved into the floor or the wall for stability. His mother sat in the light of a window next to a blue moon blossom, reading one of the historical novels about a pirate and a princess she seemed to love so much. Honestly, he was just glad she wasn't reading the one she got his name from. It was an older, incredibly corny romance story she loved and the hero's name had been Ramashan.

Lucky him.

The twins knocked on the doorway as they entered the room and their mother looked up, blinking for a moment before smiling weakly. She was still so tired, Rama could tell, but she smiled for them. If anything just to give them a sense of peace.

"What're you two doing down here?" She asked, putting her book down. "Done with chores already?"

Rama nodded. "Yeah, we didn't have a lot today, but um…" He exchanged a brief glance with Taani. "Can we ask you something?"

His mother raised a brow slightly. "Of course," she frowned slightly. "What about?"

"Dad."

He could see her stiffen and freeze. Like she hadn't been quite expecting that, but then she unfroze despite the tension still present in the way her jaw clenched and he could also tell she hadn't been surprised. Part of him wondered if this had been one of her bigger fears as of late.

"Rama, Taani-"

"We just wanted to know if he…" Rama swallowed hard. "If he's really going to hurt that guy, Danuma… I mean. Is he really going to kill him?"

Their mother looked at them both for a while, then, she sighed and waved them both to come over to her. They obliged her and let her take a hand from each of them into hers, her eyes over bright. "You two know that you're father has killed. He's a pirate captain. We're pirates. It comes with the life."

"He's angry," said Taani softly. "Scary."

"Your father is having a hard time with all of this. We all are. You know he blames himself for all the things that Nima is going through."

Rama noted the way she talked about Nima. He didn't blame her for choosing to believe Nima was still alive. In perfect honesty, he did too. If anything, because it gave him some kind of hope to hang onto. Then, the grief and guilt weren't so terrible all the time.

"But he seems to want to kill Danuma just because he's angry," said Rama. "Taani thinks he's a good guy. He didn't… well, he didn't mean for any of this to happen. It's… Dad doesn't like killing. That's all. It's weird for him to use that threat first, isn't it? Not even a warning? I'm just..."

He just didn't want his father to become somebody he didn't know.

As tears trickled down her cheeks, his mother stood up and wrapped her arms around them. They did the same, holding her tight for both her own sake and for their own. Rama could hear her sniffles and held her even tighter. She was scared too.

"Your father isn't going anywhere. He's just trying to cope with this," she said tearfully. "He's… you don't have to worry."

"You are," Rama told her quietly.

"I always worry about your father." She sighed. "And… I know you are too. Both of you. Did you want to talk to him? Is that it?"

Pulling back from the hug, the twins nodded. Of course she would guess what they wanted.

"He's not going to get upset. I don't think he will, at least. After what…" She paused for a still moment before going on. "After what happened with your sister I'm pretty sure the last thing he wants to do is get mad at you."

Another moment of silence lapsed as Rama looked at his mother. She hadn't been sleeping well, he noted, and she was more than just physically tired. He could tell that she'd cried a lot in private, even now that the hope Nima was alive had everybody all started up. The crew wasn't quite so sad as before, faith keeping the place moving around almost. If that witch was telling the truth… if his sister was really alive again...

Taani beat him to the next question he was going to ask.

"Are you okay?" She looked up at their mother with those eyes so, so grey. Silver and a blank, sleepy stare looked back at their mother, but it telling just how concerned Taani had to be to ask that question. It took conscious effort to decide whether she should ask some things or not, Rama knew. He couldn't say he got in completely, but it was like she didn't know how to ask them. Like she knew what she wanted to say and how she was feeling, but how to physically get the words out of her mouth didn't always make sense right away.

Their mother smiled at her and bent down a little to kiss Taani on the forehead. "I'm fine, baby. Tired maybe, but fine. Why don't you go find your father though? I'm sure hearing what you two have to say will bring him back a little."

"What about you?" asked Rama. He still hadn't let go of her hand.

"I," she began, stroking her thumb on the back of his hand. "Will be fine. It's your father I'm worried about, I admit. He's…" She showed more hesitation before she went on. Guilt flashed behind her eyes. "Your father goes to these… dark places sometimes. And they can be scary. Even for me."

Rama's brows furrowed. "What kind of dark places?"

His mother looked at both of them. "Places where he blames himself for everything wrong with the world," she sighed. "And stops caring about himself. What happens to him. He's been dealing with that place for longer than he's even known me."

"Why?" Taani asked.

"Because your father had a very hard childhood," said his mother. "But… I can't tell you both everything at once. But I promise, one day. One day soon we will sit you down and explain because it's high time you know."

Rama frowned slightly. "Why not now?"

"Because if I tell you now, I don't think your father will be able to handle it. Especially if I did it without him. It's his story to tell. Not mine. Please… try to understand. He loves you all so much. He just wants you to be happy, but it's just so hard for him to think you can have that with him around sometimes."

Rama let go of his mother's hand.

"I'm going to go talk to him."

-:-:-:-

They waited until nearly the end of the night before they chose to find their father. He was always the last one up aside from whoever was on lookout duty, but they wanted him to definitely be alone when they caught him. This was a conversation to be had between father and children.

Between grief-stricken, mourning father and children.

They were all emotionally tired and Rama wasn't even sure if he could cry anymore. He didn't cry often in public and he liked to be alone with his tears. It was comfortable crying in front of Taani, she wouldn't question him, but this was different. The tears were both for Nima dying and all the things he hadn't said to her. Still, he found his eyes already stinging when they approached their father coming down the stairs as he began heading for bed surely.

When he got to the bottom and stopped rubbing his eyes, he frowned seeing them. His hair was a little disheveled, like he'd been running his hands through it a lot.

"You two are up awfully late, aren't you?" Their father asked, raising a brow. "What's the matter?"

Surprisingly, Taani started first. "Talk."

Now, his father's other brow raised too. "Talk? As in you want to talk?"

She nodded and Rama reciprocated. "We wanted to talk to you about something. Can we?"

Their father blinked at them, but he walked closer and crossed his arms loosely. "Of course. Shoot, kiddo. Though I'm going to be honest, you kids are worrying the hell out of me so, please, don't beat around the bush."

Rama looked away for a moment, then back at him before it finally came. How would he even start this? He'd been thinking about it all day, but when the moment finally arrived he was… well, he was afraid. Not of his father, but for him. What if he said something wrong? After everything… he just didn't want to hurt anyone more than they already were.

The moment of fear passed, however, when Nima and his mother crossed his mind.

If he said something wrong, then so be it.

"Are you really going to kill Danuma if he runs off?"

His father, like his mother, stiffened. Only with him, he stayed stiff and even froze for a good moment. The kids looked up at him, Rama probably more expectantly so.

"...why do you ask, kiddo?" Their father asked quietly.

"Because you're scaring me," Rama said frankly. Well, he did say he didn't want anyone beating around the bush. "Us. All of us."

"Son-"

"Don't lie to me," said Rama. "I'm not dumb."

"I know you're not, Rama, but this is so much more complicated than that," said his father, putting a hand on his shoulder. "But-"

"I won't believe you, you know. Even if you tell me you will. I won't. I don't."

His father almost looked taken aback, the smallest hint of a smile on his lips. "Yeah? Why not?"

"Because if you were serious, you would have probably sent Uncle Skoochy to go with him. Or somebody… but you didn't."

And Rama knew Uncle Skoochy would have done it too. He was loyal enough to his father to kill the guy who hunted them down in the first place even if he'd lightened up on Danuma after the apology to Taani. Uncle Skoochy, by nature, always had a terrible temper when finally provoked far enough.

His father sighed. "You're right," he said. "I didn't. And I'm not going to kill him. Your grandpa and your mom had a talk with me and talked me out of it. Honestly, if you asked me whether or not I was ever serious about it… well, I'd probably have to tell you no. But... I do wonder why you ask."

After all his frankness, Rama said in a small voice. "Cause' we love you."

HIs father's mouth immediately fell open just a little, then, he closed it and unfolded his arms. He walked up to them and wrapped an arm around each of them, rubbing their backs and putting his hands on their heads.

"Love you," repeated Taani, she nuzzled her head against her father's hand and her arms were around him the tightest, squeezing him so that his father almost lost his balance.

Rama felt hot tears slide down his nose. God, he probably hadn't cried so much since he was a baby. "We don't want you to go anywhere…"

"I'm not-"

"I mean," sniffed Rama. "I don't want you to be someone else. Or go to that bad place. Just… come back."

He felt the air from his father's lung leave him before filling again rapidly and bent down to kiss the top of their heads. "I'm not going anywhere. I'm here. I'm right at the edge, but I promise I'm going to hang on. I'm not going anywhere. I'm here," he repeated again and again, quieter and quieter until it was but a whisper between the three of them. "I'm here, I'm here, I'm here…"

He held them so tight it almost hurt and they did the same.

"Here too," said Taani into their father's shirt. She said it again. "Here too."

"And I thank the gods every day for that. Don't you dare think anything else. I love you two. All three of you. Four of you. All of you. I love you guys so much I can barely stand it and I promise I'm doing my best. It's just hard and I won't lie to you, sometimes... I-I slip. But… thank you. For the hand."

They gave him a reassuring squeeze and even when they pulled back, he kept his arms around them and walked them back to their rooms, tucking them in like he used to when they were just younger children and there was a comfort in it for all of them.

That night, Rama went to bed able to breathe.

-:-:-:-

Kai slipped into the room silently. When he did, Jinora was already in bed, but not asleep. She sat up and patted the spot beside her as he slipped on a pair of night pants. Neither of them said anything, Jinora curling into the crook of his arm and he just stared at the ceiling for a long while.

Finally, in a cracking voice, he uttered, "I"m trying."

"I know you are, love."

"Gyatso, I can't just turn it off, you know that."

"I know, love" he heard her say. "But I think Rama and Taani just wanted to give you more incentive to keep trying and not to give up. I… didn't give them details though."

He swallowed, his mouth feeling dry. "Thank you. I'll… one day. I'll tell them everything one day, I'm just not ready. Not with everything going on and Nima possibly…"

"Being alive? You can say it, Captain. It gives us hope."

"But what if that just ends up letting us all down? What if it's hope for nothing?"

He felt her take a deep breath and sigh. "Then, at least, it helped us heal. If only a little bit, right? I guess, honestly, I don't have the answer, but I have to believe that it will do some kind of good. I'm just as scared of that as you are, I'm afraid. But at least, we're scared together. At least we're not alone."

"No…" he said, his eyes feeling heavy now. "We're not… I never feel totally alone when I've got you, to be honest…"

He felt a shift in the way her hair laid on his chest, but he didn't look down. Instead, he leaned his chin against her temple and fell asleep.

-:-:-:-

Nima officially hated riddles.

Why couldn't mythical creatures just say things outright? Was the charter in a store? Was it buried somewhere? Was it pinned to the wall of some random Huiyanshan citizen? In the past couple days, she'd scoured the city, spending half that time combing back through the library she slept in at night - apparently, the back window was an issue nobody knew about and it always seemed to be open just a tiny crack. Just enough for her to break into the library whenever the librarian left for the evening.

For a little while, she wondered if the mermaids were wrong. What if it wasn't in this town, but, like, the next town over…? She knew it was a weak idea, but she was borderline ready to entertain it. Then again, how would she know more than a couple of gods only knew how old mermaids with supposedly accurate knowledge of an age old sword? She wished she had her Uncle Otaku with her. He would know where to go from here instead of going from random far fetched idea to random far fetched idea.

Studying, however, had never been her thing. Even when her mother would be teaching her how to read growing up, she would always have a hard time with it, not exactly feeling like she was the most intellectually inclined of all people. Not like her Uncle Otaku or Uncle Longshot or even Rama and her mother.

That all being said, she hadn't picked up a single piece of paper or a writing utensil anywhere. She wanted to send a letter, tell her family she was okay, but all kinds of fear stopped her. After a terrible while battling with herself on it, she concluded to just get on with her task and maybe consider sending a letter later on. Even then, perhaps she should just finish her task altogether before contacting them.

Then, they wouldn't have to get dragged into all of this.

Why make them work more over her?

She did wonder what had happened after she… expired. That knowledge was still something she was trying to get used to. If anything, she tried not to think about it as much, but it made her feel so small. Small and exposed. How much had happened in between her absence?

She wanted to know if her family was okay, but she was afraid to dare contact them. If Tianmei did anything to them because of her... she didn't know what she'd do.

But her biggest fear wouldn't stop rising in the back of her mind:

Did they miss her? Or did they just move on with their lives? Were they… okay without her?

A part of her wanted the answer to be yes, they didn't miss her. Yes, they had moved on and we're okay. But another part, the part that felt like a little helpless child as she sat with her knees to her chest on the shore, sand flirting with her toes and the sun warming her, hoped that the answer was no.

She wanted them to miss her. To be a little lost without her.

But shouldn't she always pray for their better well-being? Shouldn't she pray that they could just be fine without her in their lives and not dwell on whatever sadness may be?

In her heart of hearts, she knew the answer to that and, by gods, a seed of shame budded in her chest. After all the trouble she caused everybody around her, the answer should have been yes.

But, clearly, her lack of wishing for just that meant that it was a no and her heart sank.

With a final sigh, she got up and dusted the sand off of her, shoving down her guilt at her hope as she went to go search some of the main square stores for any signs of that charter.

This chapter was a little bit transitionary, but kind of important. It gave some much needed screentime to the twins and a little bit into other less looked at relationships like Imaru and the twins, a relationship I perceive to be quite close. Especially on Taani's side.

Don't have much to say here, but next chapter does definitely start with Dan's point of view and I'm having a lot of fun writing it right now!

As always, guys I love it when you leave those reviews. This story has been picking up more with the attention it gets, but I still humbly ask for your support and if you have anything to say, even if it's just pointing out something, please consider leaving a review! It really keeps me going and keeps me writing! Thank you for reading! Tune in for next chapter!