Considering the huge fight between Korra and I, I decided to go with my uncle, aunt and cousins to the air temples after all. I sat on Oogie's back quietly, Jinora already settled into reading her book whilst I merely sat there looking glum. "Why does your face look like that Kanna? Did you swallow a bug or something?" Ikki asked me impatiently in her high pitched voice, making me exhale wearily.
"Not now Ikki please, I just want to sit quietly for a while." Before Ikki could pester me further Pema made her sit down neatly as our grandmother talked to Tenzin, persuading him to bring Uncle Bumi and my mother along. When Kya climbed up onto Oogie my face darkened further and I retreated into my knees, hugging them close to my chest as she smiled and came to sit next to me.
"Quite the show you gave last night Kanna, you want to talk about it at all?" Kya questioned however I simply shot her a look.
"No." She recoiled slightly from the sharp burn of my gaze before I shifted further away from her. "I'm going for a nap."
"A nap sounds great! Think I'll join you." Bumi agreed and quickly proceeded to crash down and fall into a snoring sleep. At least someone was comfortable with this trip. I can't believe I have spend the next couple of hours in close proximity to my mother.
"Hey…is everything alright Kanna? Are you mad at me or something?"
"Gee what do you think? Stop talking to me. I'm trying to sleep." With that I rolled onto my side so that my back was turned to her and I pointedly refused to talk to her for the rest of the trip, using my water tribe blanket to cover my head and pretend that I was sleeping. I was so mad in general that I hardly knew what to do with it all and right now, my mother was the main recipient. How could she just leave me for such long periods of time like that? Did she even think about me whilst she was away? Doubtful, she even forgot my birthday last year. No doubt she'll forget this one too not that it matters or anything. By the time we arrived at the southern air temple moods had picked up a little and I quickly leaped to my feet and grabbed a load of my stuff as well as the kids, sliding down Oogie's tail as my uncle met with the abbot, Shung or something.
I had to giggle slightly as Tenzin was gifted an ancient head shaver whilst Pema was given a huge bouquet of flowers, however when Ikki and Jinora started to fight over a book I let my stuff slide to the ground and clapped my hands. "That's enough you two, come on now no fighting. We're here for fun, remember?" I said to them both then held out my hand to Ikki. "Hand it over Ikki, I'm sure they haven't forgotten about your gift so there's no need to go snatching Jinora's."
"Kanna! You always take Jinora's side!" Ikki wailed, hugging the book closer to her as she wailed impetuously. "It's not fair!"
"That's because Kanna is an adult and knows I'm right. Give me the book Ikki!" Jinora demanded, trying to snatch it back however Ikki burst into tears and started to cry loudly as I pushed the sisters apart, trying to get Ikki to calm down because she was interrupting everyone else but she was hell bent on having a tantrum and ended up throwing herself to the floor, kicking and pounding her fists as I tried to drag her back up.
"What is going on here?!" Tenzin's sharp voice made me jump as he strode over with an air of authority. "Look Kanna, you've got Ikki all worked up. Your lack of responsibility is really starting to become tiresome, I expect more from you."
"But I didn't do anything, I was just trying…" I stopped when my uncle interrupted me.
"Not another word for now. Come Ikki, it's alright. We'll go inside and get something to eat then you'll feel much better." I refrained from smacking a hand to my forehead, feeling angry at being misunderstood. What was his problem anyway? All of a sudden I'm irresponsible and he's picking up on every little thing I do. "Kanna, perhaps you should simply stay in your room for the rest of the day. Obviously you need some time alone to reflect on your behaviour and I still haven't spoken to you about how you acted with Korra. Quite honestly I am rather disappointed in you."
"Well it's none of your business anyway and you can't tell me what to do, you're not my dad!" I finally yelled, losing the last shred of patience and sense of self control I had as I slammed a foot into one of my bags and sent it flying away somewhere. I didn't even care. "Stop berating me for every little thing that I do, you're being a right pain in my ass and your attitude stinks. I hate this family!" Turning around I stormed away, fingers clenched tightly as my mother called out.
"Kanna! Kanna wait! Honey we can sort this out, just come and talk to us!" She tried but I was already gone, disappearing down a rocky path to find somewhere quiet to sit alone. My family was so dysfunctional and annoying. Honestly, the only ones that make sense who are directly blood related and aren't kids are my grandmother and Uncle Bumi. I wish Great Uncle Sokka were still alive, he'd know exactly what to say to make everyone laugh and get along just fine. Stumbling a few times I forced myself to concentrate, keeping close to the cliff before finally emerging in an open space on the mountain side, a waterfall rushing down like a stream with plenty of rocks and places to sit and relax. There were butterflies everywhere, landing upon the sweet smelling flowers so I lay back and watched them contentedly, a small smile flickering on my lips every time one of them landed on me.
After a while I heard the scrabbling of rocks and stones falling out of place, intermittent grunts of effort being made as my uncle came slowly and carefully after me, back pressed against the wall with my mother behind him. Great. Why did she have to come along too? She just doesn't know when to quit, does she? "Yoo-hoo! There you are sweet muffin, we were worried about you!" Bumi grinned as he waved before giving a yell as he lost his footing and tumbled forwards onto his chin, groaning before he jumped back up and dusted himself off. "Running off to a place like this isn't exactly a good idea, you could get hurt."
"At least it's secluded." I answered simply as I sat up and pushed my hair back from my face.
"Kanna honey, is there something you want to talk about?" Kya asked as she reached us also, coming forwards and perching herself on a rock before folding her arms. "You're as uptight and stoic as Tenzin and let me tell you, that's not a good thing sweetie. Are you upset about Korra?"
"It hardly matters. It's not like you care anyway." This made my mother draw back slightly, her hand halting as it had tried to reach out for me as hurt flickered across her face before she exhaled.
"I see, so you are angry at me. I guess you have every right to be, but still Kanna. This isn't how you should be dealing with your emotions. Especially as a water-bender it's not good to bottle things inside you, you need to let your emotions flow and change with the current and tide." She tried to tell me but I shot her a dark look, flinging out my arm as I jumped away from her.
"You of all people have no right to lecture me! You've been gone for two years mom, two years! Last time I checked, that would have only made me fifteen years old and that's the time when a girl needs her mom the most but you were never there! It's like you just closed off from me and left me behind to go chasing other things, do you have any idea how worthless that made me feel? Like I was some kind of discarded trash!" The water which fell down the mountain spluttered, bubbling and frothing as it burst in answer to my anger and hurt, bulging into malformed shapes and darkening like an evil spirit.
"Kanna honey…you need to calm down…" Kya warned, rising to her feet with her hands aloft ready to control the water as I gripped my head.
"Stop calling me that! I hate you, I hate this family! None of us ever get along, you two are jealous of Tenzin because grandfather spent more time with him, all of you completely neglect Gran-gran, none of you ever care about how it affects us kids and everybody is always fighting! I hate it, I hate it all!" The water suddenly shot outwards with an almighty crash, sending a wave slamming against the rock face and my mother had to quickly wash it around us as Bumi squeaked, diving behind his sister as she calmly redirected the water then returned it to the water fall, letting it go once more as I felt hot tears down my cheeks, crying uselessly and all my pent up frustrations just exploded. "Just go away! Everybody leave me ALONE!"
As I flung out my arms, everything around me froze. The grass, the leaves, the flowers, even the entire waterfall as the shockwave burst of emotion caused the water in every living thing became ice, painting the entire gorge into an icy white frozen scene which for a while, I didn't even notice I'd done. Even moisture in the air had frozen, becoming pale white particles which floated down from the weight of being frozen and any dampness had become like a sheen of icy glass. My voice echoed over the entire mountain as I turned my back and hunched down, feeling a painful twisting in my stomach as I trembled, noticing the blades of grass had become solid and crunched under my feet, brittle as glass.
My mother was at a complete loss and in shock, looking pain stricken and sorrowful however when she tried to put her hands on my shoulders to comfort me I fought her off, yelling blindly as I smacked away her hands and moved further down the mountain as Bumi spoke. "Let me talk to her Kya, she just needs a little heart to heart with Uncle Bumi. Hey Kanna! Wait for me, I'm coming exploring with you!" He called out so I relaxed a little, hesitating to watch him climb over before then continuing forwards, careful of all the ice.
My uncle was the most comical man I knew as well as the clumsiest. With all his quirks and oddness, I wondered how he had ever managed to rise to the rank of Commander in the United Forces, though that being said Bumi was a rather extraordinary genius. In fact, he reminded me of Great Uncle Sokka the most, which was probably why I was closer to him than my own mother. Smiling a little as he tried to scramble up an ice ridden rock I stooped down and stretched out my hand to him, offering him help up and he grinned at me before grasping my arm and I hauled him over the rock before we ascended to one of the peaks, marvelling at the sight of the open valleys and mountain ranges before us. "Uncle Bumi, did Grandfather Aang ever bring you here?" I asked him quietly.
"No, sadly. These kind of trips he always went alone with Tenzin. He never really went on many vacations with all of us." Bumi answered and I hung my head a little, feeling a little ashamed. Bumi had the worst situation of us all. He was the firstborn son of Aang but he was neither an air-bender nor a water-bender. He must have worked so hard just to be noticed and acknowledge by his father and yet he was the brightest and happiest of us all. What did I have to complain about really?
"I'm sorry. I've been a real pain lately, haven't I?" I asked him, lifting my head and he chuckled smoothly, dropping a large hand on top of my head to reassure me.
"Probably just because you've been spending too much time around that brother of mine. Don't worry about it Kanna, families and siblings fight all the time, but that doesn't mean we don't love each other." He said to me before his face saddened into one of understanding. "I know you're angry at your mother, sweet muffin, but you know she really is trying her best to connect with you. It's all she wants and she feels guilty for leaving you alone, but your mom has always been a free spirit. Why, I'm still surprised she's not an air-bender herself." Bumi have a chortle of laughter before dropping to the ground and started to rub his aching feet. "It's difficult to get along with the people you care for most when you clash so often, but when the time really counts, we're always going to be there for one another."
"I guess so." I murmured before I too sat down next to him. "Do you think I was wrong with what I said to Korra?"
"Honestly can't say seeing as I don't know her all that well, but I do know you sweet muffin and I know that you wouldn't say something like that unless you really felt that way. If you think that the Avatar is getting too big for her boots then that means it must be true." A little comforted by his words I hugged my knees against my chest, watching as the sun started to set. Bumi started to get fidgety after a while, his stomach howling loudly so I resigned to going back, making sure he didn't fall off the mountain along the way.
"Kanna's back!" Meelo called happily when Bumi and I appeared and the younger ones leaped on me, cheering happily. "Look Kanna! I got a lemur! His name is Poki but he keeps on trying to fly away. Agh Poki come back!" Meelo yelled, scrambling around on my head, face and shoulders to try keep the poor lemur locked in his arms whilst Ikki hugged my legs.
"I was worried about you Kanna, did I make you cry? I'm sorry I really didn't mean it!"
"Aw Ikki, you didn't make me cry, I'm sorry I got so mad. I promise I'll try be better from now on, okay?" I smiled to her before laughing and reached up my hands, taking the lemur off of Meelo and tickled it under the chin, making it stop before it started to purr happily and cradle itself into my arm. "You need to make friends with Poki if you want him to stay with you Meelo. If you feed him some food, I'm sure he'll like you a lot more." I told him and he floated down from my head to go in search of berries, Ikki running off to help.
"Kanna, I want to apologise." Tenzin said to me and I blinked as I turned around to face him. "I was unintentionally harsh with you and I am very sorry, please forgive me, I took my frustrations out on you and it was unfair of me." My uncle told me, lifting his hand to bow respectfully so I returned the gesture with a water tribe bow.
"I understand. Let's sleep well tonight and start again in the morning, okay? Maybe some sleep will help us all relax a little more." I suggested and he heartily agreed so I gathered up the kids and helped put them to bed with Pema, kissing them all goodnight and tucking them in as I told them a water tribe bedtime story, lulling them to sleep before finally I too turned in for the night though the bed was even more uncomfortable and hard than the ones back at air temple island. I missed home already, but I was determined to try and patch things up with my family, though mom would have to wait a while since I'm still mad at her.
