Over the course of the next few weeks, Huvanni, all things considered, seemed to be adjusting rather well to life in the Fire Nation. After her first initial breakdown, Huvanni ended up having quite a few traumatic relapses in the days following. Luckily, Koza was able to get to her before any of her family members noticed what was happening and was a rock of comfort for the Air Bender. After they had reached the point where Huvanni had been staying with them for a little over a month, her mental state had seemed to reach a stasis and was having relapses less and less.
Huvanni was becoming much more chipper with the people of the Fire Nation, including Koza's family. Though Huvanni had been nothing short of polite in the first few days, lately she had been taking to not avoiding conversations with Fulay or Ojin, even sounding rather enthusiastic whenever they spoke to her. Though Koza was still wary of her family, she was glad Huvanni was feeling comfortable enough to open up fully. Not to mention how close Huvanni and Koza had gotten as friends in recent days.
Koza had kept her promise and showed Huvanni the best spot in Ki Lo to get pastries,and- of course- that store was now a very frequent hang-out spot for the girls to relax and talk about things they didn't want other ears hearing. The owner of the shop, an eldery man named Balu, had grown quite accustomed to their presence and had even started serving flavors of fruit pies that Huvanni recommended.
For the first time in what seemed like, well, ever, Koza's life and household felt alive. In what was once a drab, quiet, and rather lonely home filled with people who did their best to avoid one another slowly transitioned into what Koza thought might be as close to being a normal family as they had ever been. Somehow, Huvanni's shift in attitude had rubbed off on everyone she met, including Fulay and Ojin. Though the conversations they had in passing were still small business talk, it was still a major improvement. For once, Koza didn't despise coming home to her family. And it was all thanks to Huvanni.
That first night when Koza had found her slumped lifelessly on the floor, sobbing for those that had so unfairly been taken from her, Koza knew she would never be able to offer any true comfort to the poor girl. No words of sympathy would even come close to easing the pain Huvanni was experiencing, especially none that Koza could provide. And yet with each time she stood by Huvanni, sat beside her and brought her mind back from war and death, Huvanni seemed to grow a deeper and deeper appreciation for the Fire Bender. It seemed that for Huvanni, just being there was more than enough; and Koza was more than happy to provide that.
It was a dim and cloudy morning that day as Koza got ready for school. Although specks of blue were desperately attempting to get through the dense white blanket that had shown up overnight, not a shimmer of sun was being permitted to pass through. It seemed they were approaching the part of the Warm Season where it rained every other day; Koza wouldn't be surprised if it began to rain by the time school was done for the day.
Koza opened her wardrobe and got into her uniform, just as always- Uvi had washed her uniform last night, so the fabric felt clean and new. However as she changed into her clothes, for whatever reason she found herself silently humming a short tune that Huvanni had been singing a couple of days ago. The silly song got stuck in her head, it seemed. Though, she wasn't necessarily mad about it.
"Mornin'!" A familiar chipper voice called from the door. Koza smiled to herself, not even needing to turn around to know who it was.
"Hey, Vanni." Koza greeted in return, spinning around as she was pulling all of her hair up. Huvanni was already dressed in her identical uniform, her hair tightly put up in the Fire Nation bun, just as Koza had taught her. It was somewhat incredible how quickly she learned to do it, too. "Keep your voice down, you'll wake all of Ki Lo."
"Please, I know as a fact everybody around here gets up at the butt crack of dawn." She snickered. She stood in silence momentarily and watched Koza finish styling her hair.
"Do you want something?" Koza asked.
"Actually, I do," Huvanni said, smiling bashfully. "Tonight, right after dinner, I want you to sneak outside with me."
"What?" Koza asked with a raised eyebrow, almost dropping her hair pin. Huvanni threw her head back and laughed.
"Hold on, that came out wrong. I meant there's something outside I want to show you."
"That doesn't sound any better. You're making it sound like I'm going to get kidnapped." Koza replied, though she was pressing her lips tightly together to stop from grinning.
"Okay, okay. What I'm trying to say is that I want to show you something really cool later. So will you join me?"
"Why can't we just go after school? Why do we have to sneak out for it?"
"Because it only happens at night. Just trust me on this one, okay? Please?" Huanni begged, giving her the same big, sad eyes she gave whenever she wanted to go to the pastry shop. Koza inhaled deeply like a tired parent.
"Fine, fine. I'll go with you. But if my mom catches us, I'm putting all the blame on you. Got it?" Koza asked, placing her hands on her hips. Huvanni nodded, her bun bouncing up and down as she did so. Koza lost the fight with herself and grinned at Huvanni's enthusiasm; it was basically impossible not to.
"Great! If you're ready, let's go get breakfast." Huvanni said, her shoulders swaying to invisible music as she spun around to leave the room. Koza followed behind momentarily, closing her door behind her and heading down the stairs. As the two girls reached the dining room, Ojin was already seated at the table. He looked up at their appearance, and Koza noticed that, oddly, the plate of food in front of him was untouched.
"There you are. I was waiting for you." He said, looking up at them as they descended from the staircase. He seemed to suddenly regret his choice of words and his face flushed a light crimson. "I-I, um, thought it was rude to start eating when you weren't here. Both of you, I mean." He sputtered, choking on his own words. Koza and Huvanni shared a confused look.
"Morning, girls! Did you sleep well?" Uvi's sing-song voice sounded as she poked her head out of the kitchen, distracting them from whatever it was Ojin was doing.
"Yes, Uvi, thank you." Huvanni beat Koza to the punch of answering. While they took their seats, Koza couldn't help but notice Ojin's eyes kept momentarily flickering onto Huvanni, watching her eat for the briefest of seconds before returning right back to his own plate. Koza watched this act as she ate, squinting her eyes suspiciously at her brother. What was he up to…?
"Do you know where Fulay is? She's usually here to see us off." Huvanni asked aloud when she was already halfway through her bowl of rice.
"The Lady had a few important errands to do last night and said she'd be staying over at a friend's house. She should return by the time you get home." Uvi answered kindly, walking out of the kitchen to dust a nearby shelf. Koza barely was able to hide a snicker.
"Codeword for she's sleeping with an Army Captain downtown." Koza leaned to her right and whispered into Huvanni's ear. The Air Bender's eyes widened slightly at this news, though the rest of her face remained neutral.
"Koza, don't whisper at the table. It's rude." Uvi scolded. Koza quickly straightened herself back into position.
"Sorry, Uvi."
"I do hope she finishes all of her errands before tomorrow. I doubt that Master Shio Kan would be too pleased if his wife wasn't here to greet him." Uvi rattled on, moving bits of trinkets around to dust underneath them. Koza nearly choked on her juice.
"What do you mean, Uvi?" She asked.
"I mean when the Master returns home, I don't think he'd be very happy if Lady Fulay wasn't here as well."
"Father is coming home tomorrow?" Koza asked, appalled.
"Yes. Didn't the Lady discuss this with you already?" Uvi asked, furrowing her eyebrows in confusion.
"No. She didn't." Koza replied, glaring daggers at Ojin, who had found the ceiling to be quite interesting to look at all of a sudden.
"Well, as the Lady explained to me, Master Shio Kan was given a two-week vacation to return home in order to spend some time with his children. Since you two will be graduating soon, after all," Uvi went on. "He should be taking a boat early tomorrow morning and arriving home just before the evening. Oh, Huvanni, it really is so nice that you'll finally be able to meet the Master. I'm sure he's going to want nothing more than to talk your ear off!"
"Sounds… riveting." Huvanni said with all the enthusiasm of one of the potted plants nearby.
"Don't worry. Father isn't as frightening as you're imagining him to be," Ojin spoke up, his gaze now off the ceiling but still avoiding Koza's direct eyeline. "Treat him respectfully and you'll be fine. But he can be a bit brash with his words, unintentionally of course. If you start getting nervous talking to him, just tell me and I'll step right in."
"...Thanks, Ojin, I appreciate that." Huvanni replied curtly. Koza watched as Ojin smiled victoriously and felt herself grow tense.
"We should get going now. Don't want to be late for school, you know?" Koza said a bit louder than she had intended to. She hurried the other two along before Ojin could finish all of his food, bid a hasty farewell to Uvi, and practically pushed the other two outside into the hot, humid day.
"Watch it." Ojin warned as he clambered into the carriage. Huvanni glanced at Koza rather curiously, but followed suit without complaint.
The carriage ride that morning was reminiscent of the old days before Huvanni entered their lives: Silent and discomforting. Huvanni sat beside Koza just as she always did, an action that appeared to particularly bother Ojin this morning. However, as Uvi's words from earlier burned in the back of her mind, Koza found she couldn't care less about how Ojin felt.
Koza's uncharacteristic bout of fuming irritation was cut prematurely as soon as she stepped out of the carriage and into the courtyard. There, they found students standing gingerly in groups of one or two, clearly scattered in an attempt to keep away from one another. Only the occasional shared whisper from a duo of friends came even close to breaking the eerie silence.
"What's going on?" Huvanni asked as she stood beside Koza.
"I… don't know," Koza replied as Ojin roughly shoved passed her and disappeared into the sea of students. "I've never seen this before." She searched through the crowd before she spotted Min standing by himself close near some shrubbery, looking around uneasily.
"Min!" She called his name and approached, Huvanni trailing behind. The boy looked up and a look of relief washed over his face.
"Koza, oh thank the Spirits…"
"Min, what's going on? Why is everyone acting weird?" Koza questioned.
"You didn't hear? Jeez, don't your parents tell you anything? Oh, hi Huvanni." He said, momentarily losing focus to greet the girl. Huvanni waved.
"No, they don't. So?"
"Do you remember last month when Fire Lord Sozin sent out troops to dismantle the Air Bender military?" Koza couldn't help herself and glanced alarmingly at Huvanni. The girl stood motionless, her face a blank slate. "Fire Lord Sozin finally released an official statement about everything that went down. Everyone's been wondering why it took so long, but we all finally figured out why. It's a huge mess, Koza…"
"What happened?" Koza asked, bracing herself for Min's answer. The boy glanced around, like he was expecting somebody to be listening in, and hushed his voice even further.
"Those Air Benders… they were prepared for us. They knew we were coming somehow. That day on the Air Temples… It was an absolute massacre. Our troops tried to reason with them, make some kind of peace deal with the armies, but those so-called pacifists started murdering people in cold blood. Our soldiers were falling left and right, getting the air ripped out of their lungs and other awful methods.
"In order to save themselves, the Fire Benders had no choice but to fight. Those Nomads wouldn't give up, though, and the soldiers had no choice but to keep fighting until the very last Air Bender fell. All four Air Temples were completely exterminated, Sozin said. Luckily we had numbers on our side, otherwise the Fire Nation army would've been destroyed. It's horrible that it came to that extreme, of course, but they were left with no choice." Min said in such a nonchalant tone that Koza felt her hands twitch with fury.
"So there's just no more Air Benders? Sozin just wiped them clean from existence? Surely that will disravel the world as we know it!" Koza said through gritted teeth.
"Why does it matter? The Air Benders never did anything for anybody else. Never participated in trades or world affairs, nothing. They committed a heinous crime and then tried to take the Fire Bender Army down with them. Good riddance, I say." Min scoffed. Koza saw Huvanni's entire body tighten out of the corner of her eye.
"And what about the Avatar? Did they kill him, too?" Koza asked accusingly.
"Nobody knows. But rumor has it that as soon as the Fire Army began winning the fight, he flew away and let the Air Benders fend for themselves. What a coward…" Min tutted. "But that's why everyone's on edge. If the Avatar managed to escape, there's a possibility he could be hiding in the shadows somewhere, plotting his revenge against the Fire Nation. Or if he got away, maybe some other warriors did, too. That's why everyone's on edge, we're all worried there might be an Air Bender hiding in plain sight." Koza's blood ran cold.
"Please. Like anyone besides the Avatar would ever be able to escape the Fire Nation's fury." Koza was surprised to hear Huvanni speak up. She stared darkly at Min, her eyes clouded with an emotion Koza had never seen on the girl's face before. "The Fire Nation is ruthless and calculating. They would never let even a single Air Bender escape. If the Avatar did in fact get away, they'll track him down within days. He doesn't stand a chance against the wrath of the Fire Nation."
"...Yeah, I suppose that's true." Min said, looking at her questioningly.
"W-well, this is a big deal. A very big deal. I hope Fire Lord Sozin is prepared to face the consequences of this. I mean, how is he going to explain this to the leaders of the Water Tribes or to the Earth King that an entire Element is just gone?" Koza asked.
"The Fire Nation colonies on the Earthen shorelines have been a main source of Earthen kingdom for years now. I don't think the Earth King is in any position to have a comment on Fire Nation affairs." Min said with an arrogant smirk. Koza resisted every urge within herself to sock him right in the jaw. The sound of a gong rang throughout the yard, and the students all began to trickle into the building, all while keeping a suspicious look out on everyone else. "School time. See you later, girls." Min waved and joined the line of sheep, leaving Koza and Huvanni alone by the bushes.
"Vanni-" Koza began, but Huvanni waved her hand to cut her off.
"Don't. I'm okay, really," She said with a half-hearted smile. "But… I told you so." Koza's heart sank.
"You don't have to pretend to be alright." Koza said earnestly, grabbing hold of Huvanni's hands. Huvanni looked down, rubbing her thumbs gently over Koza's knuckles.
"And you don't have to feel responsible for my well-being," she replied gently. "I've said it a million times already, I don't blame the students or the citizens or-or even the soldiers for any of this! It's the Fire Lord that's at fault here. Him alone. But there's nothing we can do about that right now. And that's okay."
"But it's not okay!" Koza felt her throat beginning to burn as she held back tears of anger. "This isn't right! They shouldn't think of you as an enemy!"
"But they do anyway. Because of lies they were forced to hear. The two of us alone will never be able to convince an entire Nation that their beloved leader is wrong. But the fact that even one person, one incredible and kind person is on my side is more than enough for me. Because we're friends, right Koza?" She asked. Koza nodded slowly, unable to formulate even a single word. "Then let's get to class."
Koza's burning throat stayed with her for the rest of the day and even on the carriage ride home. The entire day was just a headache-filled blur filled with snippets of her teacher's saying words she didn't understand nor care about. She couldn't even bring herself to eat dinner that night, something her mother clearly didn't take very kindly to.
"It's such a waste. There are starving children out there who would kill to have a home-cooked meal." Fulay mocked after Uvi's third time trying to coerce Koza to eat had failed. Then give it to them, Koza thought miserably. She slumped in her chair and stared down at the beautiful meal that had been prepared for her, ignoring the uncomfortable tension she had inadvertently created. She wanted to eat even a little bit, just to appease her mother, but the nauseous twisting in her stomach prevented her from wanting to even look at her dinner.
"Uvi, I'm finished. Koza, why don't we go upstairs and talk for a bit?" Huvanni said, handing her cleaned plate to Uvi.
"Oh, thank you, Huvanni. Maybe you can knock some sense into that girl," Fulay sighed, rubbing her temples. "I don't know what's gotten into you today, Koza, but I didn't raise you to act like a spoiled brat."
"You didn't raise me at all." Koza muttered, accidentally saying her thoughts out loud.
"What was that?"
"Nothing, ma'am." Koza covered herself quickly, escaping upstairs with Huvanni before Fulay could get a chance to chew her out any longer. The Air Bender silently brought Koza into the guest bedroom, quietly closed the door, then headed towards the window.
"If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were more upset about my people being murdered than I am." She finally said, glancing at Koza over her shoulder as she pried open the glass, letting the warm night air into the room.
"I know, I'm sorry-"
"I didn't mean it as a bad thing. I just hate seeing you so worked up like this," Huvanni continued. "These past few weeks, you've been there for me each and every single time I've been upset. And… I'm so thankful for that. Even if it's not a lot, I want to do something for you this time." Koza watched as she carefully climbed out of the window and onto the curved shingles of the side roof.
Huvanni then jumped straight up into the air, almost like an invisible force had grabbed her, and vanished from sight. Any other person would be alarmed at the sight, but Koza knew her far too well at that point.
"Coming?" Huvanni's teasing voice sounded from above. Koza hesitated for only a second before clambering out the window after her, holding on tight to the wall so she didn't slip. She stepped gingerly onto the clattering black tiles, her legs quivering from under her at the lack of balance. Koza turned her head up to look at the top roof of her house, a familiar face peering down at her.
"Here, grab my hand and I'll-" Huvanni began, but was taken aback when Koza suddenly leapt up from below, boosted up by a sudden mass of orange fire swirling around her legs. She landed with grace and elegance, her eyes gleaming mischievously at Huvanni.
"Didn't think I could do it on my own?" She taunted playfully.
"Your words, not mine." Huvanni snorted. Koza looked around at the sky view of her neighborhood, a maze of luxurious towers and lights that stretched on for miles. She had never seen them at this angle before; it was rather beautiful.
"So, you've got me curious now. How is being on top of my roof a repayment?" Koza asked, kneeling down.
"Like this." Huvanni knelt down as well and pointed up. Koza followed her gesture and audibly gasped.
The clouds had all but vanished over the course of the day, allowing the girls to view a completely clear sky. The blackened night sky was dotted in millions of bright white stars, more than Koza had ever seen before; small balls that twinkled and shone from great distances, nearly covering the entirety of the inky blackness. However, the most amazing thing was that hundreds of the stars were in visible movement across the sky, racing through the endless abyss as if some great Spirit was throwing them across the horizon.
"Meteor shower," Huvanni explained, smiling at Koza's awe. "There's one every four-ish years, give or take. I remembered the Nuns told us a couple of months ago that the one this year would be tonight, just by chance. And I didn't think it'd be very fun to watch it alone."
"Wow… I've never seen anything like this before." Koza whispered, prying her eyes from the incredible sight just long enough to look at Huvanni.
In the light of the moon and the stars, she truly looked like she was glowing- just as she had on the night they had first met. She had long released her tight bun and allowed her hair to flow down freely, spilling all over her shoulders. Her stormy eyes twinkled just as much as the stars did, reflecting Koza's own amber ones on the glassy surface. She really was one of, if not the most beautiful person Koza had ever seen. And she looked so… so happy. But how? How could she smile and enjoy herself even after a day like today?
"I'm so glad I get to spend this time with you." Huvanni said without averting her gaze from the sky. So that was how. Because Koza was with her. The thought made her heart skip a beat from joy. The fact that Huvanni wanted to spend as much time with Koza as she did with her, it made her happier than she had ever felt before. Nothing had even come close; Koza had nothing to look forward to in her life until the Air Bender came around. Ever since that girl first stepped foot into her home, Koza felt like she could touch the moon at any point. Being with Huvanni… it made her feel alive!
…Oh no…