Her parents blamed each other. Kanna's mother said it was her husband's fault, for being so foolish as to tell his daughter that she could marry any man she pleased without taking into account the possibility that she might take him up on his offer. Kanna's father said it was his wife's fault, for allowing their daughter to go running around with a fisherman.

"I think you're the only one being sensible about this," Kanna told Tupaarnaq one evening when she had fled to the house of her betrothed rather than listen to the argument. "When I told you the bride price my father had set, all you did was nod and work out how long it would take you and Pakku to save the money." Even Pakku had not been so calm.

"Don't forget coming up with ways to make a little more," Pakku said. He had not yet reached the skill level at which most waterbending masters took students, but he had taken a couple of young ones too poor to pay a proper teacher on his mother's advice.

"It give me joy to see what grateful children I have," Tupaarnaq said with a smile.