Koza and Huvanni sat in complete and utter silence. Deafening, cruel, bitter silence. The blissful joy Koza had been feeling mere hours ago was completely gone, leaving her an empty husk. Neither of the girls could bring themselves to look at each other.
Though the two girls sat in the same room, it felt like they were in two completely different worlds; like they would never be able to find each other again. Eventually, Koza could no longer take the silence.
"How?" She finally asked, her voice filled with pain and fury. She didn't even turn to look at the other girl when she spoke, unable to look her in the eye.
"How what?" Huvanni asked in a timid, hopeless voice that made Koza's heart shatter. Though she asked, they both knew she already knew the answer.
"How could you say yes?"
After Ojin's unexpected proposal, both Huvanni and Koza had been completely speechless. Unable to even comprehend the severity of the situation they had unknowingly walked into. Koza had thought Ojin's feelings for Huvanni were nothing more than a schoolboy's crush; a flighty attraction that would surely fade over time. Never in a million years would she have thought it had gotten this serious- that her brother would take it this far.
Koza had racked her brain to try and think of an excuse that would even be remotely plausible. Huvanni was already betrothed, she had to move back to the Earth Kingdom, anything. Fear, however, had completely paralyzed her. All she wanted to do was cry, to scream at Ojin and the rest of her family that they couldn't take Huvanni from her. But before she could find her voice, Huvanni found it first.
"I would love nothing more than to marry you." She had said with a hollow voice that wasn't too unfamiliar with the way she talked on that first night she came to Ki Lo- the same empty, hopelessness that came with the loss of an entire culture. Sitting here now, hours later, that sentence repeated inside of Koza's head over and over.
"I panicked. I'm so sorry Koza, I-I couldn't think of an excuse in time." Huvanni was nearly whispering. Hot tears burned at the corners of Koza's eyes, though she refused to cry. Not now.
"Well what are we supposed to do now? Now there's no way to get out of this! There's no possible excuse that we could come up with that would stop a wedding." Koza shouted, her fury at the situation spilling out uncontrollably. She finally turned to face Huvanni, and found the Air Bender was scowling.
"Do you not think I know that? What, you think I want this? You think I want to stay in this Spirit's-forsaken city, married to some boy I don't care about?" She shouted in return.
"You were a fool! You could've come up with any excuse in the book, but now you're completely stuck, you idiot!"
"Oh, so I'm an idiot now, am I?" Huvanni stood up from her sitting position on Koza's bed, marching right up until the two girls were face-to-face. "I didn't see you coming up with any brilliant ideas. All I saw was you sitting there with your mouth open like a fish!"
"I admit I froze, but if you just slowed down and thought things over for once in your life, we wouldn't be in this situation right now!" Koza continued. "You could've said anything instead of yes! Say that you needed to think it over! At least then we could've had time to come up with a plan together!"
"Well there's no point shouting about it now!" Huvanni roared. Koza's mouth instinctively shut. Huvanni took a deep breath and rubbed her forehead. "Look, I get it. I screwed up. But fighting and yelling at each other isn't going to fix this."
"...Okay, you're right," Koza admitted, exhaling deeply. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have gotten so angry. Especially not at you."
"It's okay. We're in this together, always," Huvanni spoke gently, wrapping her fingers gently around Koza's. "...Should we head to bed? We have school tomorrow, maybe we can think of a plan when we get home."
"Absolutely not. This is way more important than school." Koza said firmly. She never thought she would be hearing those words come out of her mouth. "I'll tell Uvi that… I don't know, we're coming with wedding ideas? Father wants nothing more than to keep you happy. If you say you want to stay home with me, he won't have anything to say about it."
"Sounds good," Huvanni sighed. "Spirits above, I can't believe this is happening the day after we confess our love to each other. One measly day of happiness, and now this. How about that luck, right?"
"I know…"
"Hey, we'll think of something. Don't worry," Huvanni urged. "I always manage to weasel my way out of bad situations. I mean, I'm the lone survivor of a cultural genocide, aren't I?"
"This is a little different than a life or death situation, Vanni. Getting away from my family's grip is going to be harder than you think… What do you think we should do now?" The question caused Huvanni to pause momentarily, running through different ideas in her head.
"We could… Oh! We could tell them my family doesn't approve of me marrying Ojin, and that I need to return to the Earth Kingdom! That'd get them out of my hair." She said eagerly. Koza, however, didn't waver.
"That won't work. Dad would never take such a massive rejection lying down. He'd probably head straight into the Earth Kingdom himself to have a meeting with your 'parents.' Plus, even with the non-existent chance that he does accept a no, that would mean we'd have to leave each other, probably for good." Koza said with a frown.
"Oh, I didn't think about that…'' More silence followed as the two girls pondered the conundrum. Koza had to admit, she was positively stumped. Years of constant exams, tests, and assignments completed, and yet no amount of studying was helping her find an answer. The most important problem in her life, and she was stuck being utterly helpless.
"What if I just tell them I changed my mind? People do that, right?" Huvanni asked again, her voice slowly being laced with despair. "I could just tell them I'm not ready to be married yet and that I'd like some more time."
"That could work, hypothetically…" Koza said slowly. "But chances are my parents would proceed to either never leave you alone in order to convince you otherwise, or they'd be so insulted that they'd just send you back to the Earth Kingdom by next morning." Huvanni stared down at her feet. Slowly, droplets of tears began to trickle down her cheeks.
"Spirits, what am I going to do?" She whispered, rubbing her eye with her palm. "There's no way out of this. I'm going to have to marry Ojin."
"Come on, we can't give up that easily!" Koza attempted to encourage, but she didn't believe her own words. "There's gotta be a solution. Something obvious that we just haven't thought of yet. What if… What if you started acting crazy, make it so Ojin doesn't want to marry you anymore? You know, eat rice with your hands or quack like a turtle duck everytime he talks to you."
"They'd probably send me to an asylum if I did any of that." Huvanni managed a weak chuckle as she wiped her wet face on her sleeve. Koza wanted to run up and squeeze her, assure her that everything would be okay and that they would find some way to stay together- but her legs had turned to lead.
"Koza? Ms Huvanni? Master wants to- Ms Huvanni, whatever is the matter?" Uvi cried, dropping the basket of laundry she was holding and rushing into the room. Koza nearly jumped at her sudden appearance; for an older woman, Uvi really was good at sneaking up on people.
"Nothing, Uvi, I'm fine," Huvanni sniffed, blinking her eyes to clear the tears. "It's okay. Really."
"I don't…" Uvi trailed off, looking towards Koza. Although Koza wasn't crying, her expression was grim and full of despair. It didn't take a genius to figure out something was bothering her. "You both look like someone just died. What is going on?"
"Nothing. It's really fine, Uvi. We were just… talking." Koza attempted to wave her off, hoping she would surrender and leave them be. Uvi, however, surprised her and remained firm.
"Girls, I would appreciate it if you two would be honest with me," she scolded. "I think I'm able to tell when something is upsetting you. Now, are you going to tell me what it is, or are you going to keep lying?" Huvanni and Koza shared a glance, the two girls silently asking the other what they should do. Koza knew how much Uvi respected Shio Kan; would she tell him everything if she knew?
"Uvi… It's really important that you don't tell a single soul about this. Especially not Father," Koza surprised herself by stepping up to the task. "Please. He-he can't know about this. Do you promise to keep this only between us?" Uvi looked a bit bewildered by the request, but inhaled.
"You can trust me, Koza. I promise not to tell. Now, what has gotten you poor things in such a tizzy?" She asked, sitting down on the bed.
"I don't want to marry Ojin." Huvanni blurted out almost as soon as Uvi sat down. A quick bit of shame flashed on her face, but she continued. "Ojin is a perfectly wonderful man. He's got money, intelligence, looks… Really, any girl would be lucky to be with him. But I just don't feel that way about him. I don't look at him and see a person I want to spend the rest of my life with. I-I don't see someone that I want to be with every day, or someone that I want to start a family with. I just… don't love him."
Huvanni stared guiltily at the ground, unable to look at Uvi or at Koza. Koza honestly felt rather proud that Huvanni was able to get that all out into the open, but she bit her tongue while waiting for Uvi's response. Uvi didn't look overly upset, but she didn't seem thrilled, either.
"Well… that's unfortunate. The Master and Lady were really looking forward to having you in the family. As was I, I admit. I've grown rather fond of you these past couple of weeks," Uvi spoke, then she sighed. "But the heart wants what it wants, I suppose. But goodness, child, if you don't want to marry Master Ojin, then why on Earth would you say yes?"
"I don't know…" Huvanni mumbled. "Fulay and Shio just looked so… eager, and Ojin was nearly shaking with anticipation… I froze. I just couldn't bring myself to say no to them…"
"Do you see the predicament now?" Koza asked. Uvi shook her head.
"Yes, I do. And I am well aware of the Master's… temperament, so outright saying you changed your mind probably won't do very well. Why don't you say that you panicked and forgot that you're already betrothed? Is there somebody back home you have in mind?"
"...No." Huvanni answered, but made the mistake of hesitating. And unfortunately for them, Uvi picked up on it.
"There is, isn't there? Oh, you young girls and your crushes. Always so embarrassed about them," Uvi tutted. "Just the same as when Koza wanted to tell that boy she liked him. How'd that go, by the way, dear?"
"Fine… We're getting off topic, Uvi…"
"Yes, yes, my apologies. I've just never understood why having feelings for another person has to be this big secret. In the Water Tribes, we were never ashamed to admit when we loved another person. There were boys crafting little engagement-necklaces out of shells when we were six years old! But that's besides the point, your heart already belongs to someone?" Huvanni's cheeks burned, but she tried to remain stoic.
"I… do, yes. I am in love with someone else, but neither Ojin or Shio Kan can know about it." She said. However, she made a small, fatal error upon her admittance: she glanced sideways at Koza.
"Oh, I see. It's Koza, yes?" Uvi asked. "You two are together?"
Neither Koza or Huvanni could have been sure what Uvi was going to say, but it certainly was not that. Both girls' jaws dropped to the floor, their expressions morphing to wild panic as they attempted to spit out some form of coherent sentence. Uvi watched with mild concern as both girls essentially had strokes in front of her, babbling nonsense as they tried to rebuttal Uvi's statement. Finally, Koza took a deep inhale and forced the words out of her mouth.
"How… did you know?"
"Well, I figured it out just now. I know you and Huvanni were incredibly close, but I had assumed you two were only friends. I guess I need to check my own biases, hm... But the way Huvanni looked at you just now when she was talking of her love… It was a look I recognized all too well."
"You aren't… upset?" Koza asked in a whisper. Uvi looked rather offended.
"Upset? Now why on Earth would I be upset? You two clearly care about each other and are willing to head into strife together for the sake of your relationship. Of course, the Southern Water Tribe was a bit more accepting of who you could marry than the Fire Nation is," she said with a wink. "But if you're happy, Koza, then I'm happy." Koza's muscles all seemed to simultaneously relax at once, her legs turning into jelly with relief. They really were able to trust Uvi… She accepted them for who they were…
"But clearly the plan to tell Ojin I'm in love with another wouldn't work," Huvanni piped up. "I mean, I don't even want to think about the repercussions that would come with us admitting that we're together."
"That's true. My, this truly is a predicament, isn't it? Unwillingly being engaged to your lover's brother. This would make quite the thrilling novel…"
"We have no idea what to do," Koza sighed. "We've gone through every possible idea, but nothing seems fool-proof. I don't want to lose her, Uvi, I just can't. I love her too much to see her unhappy with someone else." Huvanni grabbed a hold of her hand, squeezing it tight. Koza appreciated the gesture, but it didn't stop a single tear from dripping down her face.
"Oh sweetheart, please don't cry. We can figure something out, there's always a solution to a problem." Uvi assured softly, standing up from the bed. She looked between the girls, shaking her head with pity. "Such a shame. Young love should be something happy and exciting, not… well, miserable."
"Maybe marrying Ojin wouldn't be so bad," Huvanni mumbled suddenly. "At least Koza and I would get to see each other every day. And… and if he works as much as Shio does, I won't have to see him all the time."
"Don't talk like that," Koza said firmly. "You're not marrying Ojin, not in this life or the next. We're staying together and that's final." Huvanni turned her head, hope glimmering in her eyes as she looked to the fierce face of her fiery lover.
"Ah, such a wonderful couple," Uvi swooned. "Reminds me of my Turlok. You really remind me of him, Koza."
"Turlok? Was that your… uh, lover, I guess?" Koza asked. Uvi nodded with a sad smile, memories of a thousand lifetimes crossing over her face in a flash.
"Yes, he was my husband.. One of the Southern Tribe's best hunters, I'll say that much. But you don't want to hear about him."
"No, we would love to. Please, go on." Huvanni urged. Koza nodded in agreement, happy to have any form of distraction from reality. Uvi smiled down at her hands, clenching them together until the dark colors of her knuckles lightened.
"We were childhood friends, me and him. We were close; very, very close. Every day, he'd always say the same thing: 'when I get big, you're gonna be my wife!' All the little girls had crushes on Turlok, but he had his heart set on me. But I thought his makeshift proposals were the most annoying thing on the planet, and I assured him that never in a million years would I marry him. That never stopped him, of course.
"Then, things changed as we grew older. We had less time for play and instead focused on learning crafts and trades. Though the two of us remained friends as teenagers, Turlok stopped confessing his love for me. But, in a hilarious sense of irony, when I was seventeen, I started developing feelings for him. I guess I finally realized how much of a sweet, responsible, and kind man he really was when he grew into his boots. After so many years of rejecting him, I sure felt like a fool. But I didn't want things to be awkward between us, so I outright told him after a day of work. He was shocked, completely, but then he started laughing and told me it took me long enough. The two of us were married in the Spring."
"You guys got married really quickly." Koza observed.
"To be fair, Ojin asked for my hand after knowing me for a couple months." Huvanni pointed out.
"It's more common in the Water Tribes to be wed fairly early. I'd recommend you two wait a few more years, though," Uvi eyed them both, making them blush. "Anyway, our marriage was… wonderful, to say the least. With Turlok always on hunting duty, we didn't get to see each other very often. But when he was home, it was the happiest I ever was. I love him, I loved him more than anything. Then… then…"
"Then?" Koza asked, confused.
"Then six years later, our daughter was born. Kuna, we named her. After Turlok's grandmother. The most darling little thing you've ever seen in your life. Beautiful, absolutely beautiful." Uvi's hands were shaking. "She looked just like her father, oh but she had my mother's eyes. I knew she would be a Water Bender, I could tell just by looking at her. Such loud lungs, too… You could hear her cries from a mile away. But Turlok was so overjoyed, he wanted nothing more in life than to be a father. And he loved her so much…"
"What… happened to Kuna?" Koza asked, although she had a dreadful feeling of where this story was going. Uvi struggled to speak.
"Kuna… We don't know how it happened. She was fine one day, then just… It was in the middle of the night, while we were asleep. I-I don't know why it happened., but when we woke the next morning, our girl was gone. Dead. The Tribe's medics said it wasn't our fault, that we couldn't have known and that we had done everything right… But if we did, then why did our girl leave us?" Uvi held back a sob, her voice cracking at her story. Huvanni and Koza stared aghast at her, too horror-struck to even give condolences. In all her sixteen years of knowing Uvi, Koza had never once heard of this story. She didn't even know that Uvi had a daughter; although, seeing how upset the memories were making her, she could understand why she didn't talk about it much.
"Then… oh, the Spirits really had it out for me, they did. Turlok was so full of grief, he barely knew what to do with himself. We didn't speak for days, all I could do was sit in Kuna's room, trying to pretend like it was all a bad dream and that if I just waited, my little girl would come back to me. I wanted to remain in the house, but a week after Kuna's funeral, Turlok said that he was going to return to work. I shouted at him, I said 'how can you carry on like normal?' And he just said I needed to move on eventually, that I couldn't honor her memory by shutting out the world. I was so mad at him, I said such horrible things that day. That if he was so ready to move on, he clearly didn't care about our daughter the way I did. I was upset and hurt, and I took it out on him… I shouldn't have. Those things I said, that is by far my biggest regret in life. Because I got my comeuppance that night."
"There was an… an accident on the men's fishing boat. A storm suddenly surrounded them, one they hadn't expected. There were no Water Benders on board. Their boat was capsized and… I never saw Turlok again. A week after our daughter died, my last memory of my husband was me shouting at him. I could barely live with myself after that, I just couldn't move on with the guilt. And everyone else in the Tribe giving me those… pitiful glances. So, I packed up my bags and moved to the Fire Nation, where I've been for over forty years now."
An eerie silence followed after the conclusion of Uvi's story, one that Koza could physically feel the weight of.
"Uvi… I'm so sorry." Huvanni beat Koza to the punch by saying it.
"If I haven't heard those words before," Uvi chuckled cynically, wiping her eyes. "It's alright, dear. It was a long, long time ago. I've learned to forget the past."
"But you shouldn't have to forget the past. You can't let tragedies control you, but that doesn't mean you have to just ignore the memories of what you've lost." Koza urged. Uvi gace a pitiful smile.
"Easier said than done. Well, this was the first time I've talked about Kuna and Turlok since I left the Southern Water Tribe. I suppose that's a start, hm? Well, I'm not so sure how my tales of woe will aid you in your predicament, but I hope you gained at least something from it." She chuckled sadly. Koza slowly sat on the ground, the heaviness of Uvi's tale still settling in.
"You really are the most noble person I know. You've gone through so much, and yet you still managed to be concerned about our situation." Koza shook her head in disbelief.
"Because I care about you, Koza. I've raised you since you were a newborn! Lady Fulay was much more hands on with Ojin, but when you were first born- bless their hearts- The Lady and Master were both so busy and exhausted, I ended up taking over primary care. Sometimes, as selfish as it is, I… I almost think of you like my own."
"It's not selfish," Koza said suddenly. "Sometimes… I think of you as a parent." She and Uvi turned to each other, a new sense of understanding and love that Koza had never felt before filling her chest.
"I'm so sorry to interrupt," Huvanni spoke, doing so anyway. "But I think I actually did get something out of that story, Uvi. Koza, what if you and I just run away?"
"...I'm sorry, what? "
"To the Earth Kingdom! You've said many times you don't want to stay at home anymore, plus your future is unclear since you won't join the army anymore. The plan was always for me to head to Ba Sing Se as soon as my leg healed. Why don't you come with me? We can finally be in a place where we don't have to worry about our relationship!" Huvanni was nearly shaking with excitement.
"Now Huvanni, don't you think that's a bit… rash? You can't just run from your problems. It won't-" Uvi began, but was cut off by Koza.
"I think that's the best idea either of us have come up with."
"What? Koza, please, think about this!" Uvi cried with alarm. "You two are still so young, you'll be running into unknown territory with only the clothes on your backs! Ba Sing Se is so far, it'll take you ages to get there. And what about your family? Will you really leave everything behind, just like that?"
"It's not like they really care about me when I'm around. You've seen the way they treat me, Uvi. If anything, they'll be glad to get rid of the burden." Koza voiced, although she couldn't keep the bitterness out of her words.
"Oh, Koza… Well, what about you, Huvanni? Surely your parents wouldn't approve of this plan! They're expecting you to come home at some point, I'd think they'd take notice of their daughter going missing. I think you should at least send them a message and let them know what's going on! I'm sure they'd understand, wouldn't they? Perhaps they can even be of aid in this situation!" Uvi tried in desperation. Huvanni turned slowly to Koza, who gave her the same blank stare. It didn't seem like there would ever be a better time. It was now or never.
"What? Why are you two looking at each other like that? Is there something else you two are hiding?" Uvi folded her arms. Koza guiltily rubbed her arm.
"Spirits, you have no idea."
"Uvi, there's something you should probably know…"