"Why wont you just tell me where you're going?!" Kya screamed at her mom, trying desperately to get the fact across that she was not only unhappy that her mom will be gone for 2 weeks and that because of this, they will not be able to do waterbending training together, but also the fact that her Mom doesn't even trust her own daughter enough to tell her where she is going to be for half the month and why.
"Kya plea-" Katara had been once again cut off by Kya, Katara had been trying to plead with Kya all evening, she knew how important their training sessions were to her Daughter, and she wanted more than anything to be able to tell Kya everything and to ease her pain and confusion… But she just couldn't, she didn't think Kya was ready to know about the problem at hand, not yet.
"Don't try to guilt trip me into forgiving you this time Mom!" Kya took on a sarcastic mocking tone at the word Mom.
"Kya please, I know you're upset with me but I just can't tell you yet, ok? I Promise that when you're a little older you will know everything." Katara tried to take on a calmer town for the first time in the last 10 minutes, trying to defuse the situation before she left. She didn't want Kya to be mad at her the entire 2 weeks she was going to be gone after all.
"I know Mom… but why cant you tell me now? I'm 12 years old for spirits sake! You and Dad are some of the most powerful, influential, and experienced people in the entire world in terms of conflict resolution… Me, Bumi, and Tenzin all worry about Dad so much when he's gone… and now you're gonna start leaving too? We at least deserve an explanation!"
And there it was, the bigger reason that Kya was so upset with her Mom, the real thoughts and fears she had been trying to keep hidden and shove down into the back of her mind. Kya wasn't really upset that Katara was leaving for 2 weeks, or that they would miss a couple sessions of some of their best bonding time… Kya was scared.
"Oh Kya… I'm so so sorry… I never realized how much this must have worried you huh? Well if you still trust me, please take my word that I will come back. What i'm going to be doing for the next 2 weeks will not be dangerous by any means, ok?" Katara's tone was soft and full of empathy for her scared Daughter now, trying to get across the important truth to Kya that she would never risk dying and missing out on her children becoming fine adults.
"Fine Mom… I trust you, but don't expect me or the others to be any less worried or mad at you while you're gone."
Katara hesitated at this, should she continue to try and convince her that what she was doing was for the better? But finally she said her final words before leaving the front door.
"Ok."
It had now been 4 days since Katara had left to do… whatever it is she was doing, and Kya more so than the other children was still very much unhappy with her Mom, this situation was even more frustrating because usually she would get out her anger during waterbending practice, but without someone to do it with it just wasn't the same. Because of this anger and sadness Kya had been harboring for the last 4 days, she had decided to take the burden of being around her off the rest of the family and stay in her room nearly 24/7, only coming out to grab food and drinks. This of course was causing Aang to try to think of something… anything he could do to try and cheer his daughter up.
Kya's Bedroom door slowly creaked open, she looked up from her bed to see her Dad.
What could he possibly want? Kya thought to herself, Aang had tried to mostly stay out of the arguments between Kya and Katara as he understood both sides greatly, but eventually decided it best to stay out of it for now.
"Hey Princess…" Aang took on a cautionary tone pausing for a second thinking if he should continue on.
"I know you're probably not really in the mood to talk at the moment, and that you're upset with your Mom... for good reason! But how about you come out and show your face to the rest of your family, you can be mad at her and still have fun with the rest of us in the meantime cant ya?" Aang took on a playful yet understanding tone, hoping she would give in to his charm.
"Ok… I guess I could come out for a little while." Kya said quite hesitant but she could tell Aang didn't care, All he needed was her to agree.
About 5 Minutes later, Kya came out of her room looking up a bit more presentable. Aang looked up at her and smiled, glad that she ended up actually coming out of her room to socialize. Both Bumi and Tenzin also looked up from their game at the table, quickly scrambling out of their seats to tackle Kya in a big hug.
"Look who decided to come out of her little cave! I haven't seen you in years… have you gotten taller?" Bumi quickly said, obviously joking around with his little sister.
"Yea you look taller!" The little Tenzin added, hoping to join the banter of his older siblings.
"Haha alright guys I get it, I have been a buzzkill… sorry." Kya added trying to be playful, but losing the happy tone half way through the sentence, once again letting the sadness spill in."
But this is when Aang got perhaps the most obvious, yet brilliant idea he had ever come up with! How did he not think of this before?!
"Hey Princess, do you think it would help you ease your mind and relax if you did some waterbending practice?" Aang suddenly added, with a hint of pride in his eyes for the idea he was about to unveil.
"Well, of course I thought of that Dad! But it only helped before because Mom was there to do it with me…" Kya quickly added back, intending to give off the impression that the idea was stupid.
"Well… What if instead of your Mother, you and I had a go at some practice together?" Aang said quickly after she finished, proud of his simple yet great problem resolution.
"Uh… I... " Kya was speechless, how could she have not thought of that before?! Her dad was also a waterbender! And he was great at solving problems, he was the avatar for spirits sake! It was such a simple idea and request, but it just might work.
"Wow Dad, I can't believe I sort of forgot you were a waterbender for some reason… We could give it a try?" Kya had the first signs of actual relief and hope come into her voice for the first time in a week.
"Haha, I'm not sure how you forgot that! Besides air I use water the most of any element. But anyway, let's head out! Hopefully I can lend some advice and some stress relief for you…"
"You can try Mr. Avatar" Kya responded back, before following her dad out the front door and down the island to the ocean behind the island.
"So… I take it your Mom never ended up telling you where she was going huh?" Aang started lightly.
"No… She still didn't trust me enough to tell me. I cant believe her sometimes! Me and Bumi are old enough to have the right to know where you guys go off to don't we? You always tell us what you're doing when you leave! Even if it's dangerous…"
"Ah so that's why you're actually mad at her, you're worried about her." Aang added teasingly.
"So what If I am? Of course I'm worried about Mom, most of the time when you leave it's off to solve some conflict that could always end up with you dead, sure there are political happenings as well but that's quite rare nowadays. What am I supposed to think when all of a sudden Mom starts leaving as well?"
"Ok I think I'm starting to get the picture here, the actual root of the problem is me…" Aang noted thoughtfully, before continuing.
"I'm always going away for decent periods of time, and all of you are of course constantly worrying about me while I'm gone, but for you at least… The one thing that helps you calm down is that I tell you all exactly what I'm going to be doing and where isn't it?" Aang was sure he was correct in this assessment.
"I don't know… Maybe you're onto something there. I just still don't see why she can't tell us what she's doing."
"Kya, If I tell you what your Mom is currently doing will you promise not to tell her and stop being mad?" Aang said hopefully, though it wasn't like Aang to go against Katara's wishes and tell the kids something she wasn't comfortable with them knowing, this fact had Kya curious.
"You would go against Mom's wishes like that? That isn't very like you Dad." Kya was suspicious more than anything, but intrigued nonetheless.
"Haha your right about that one, but sometimes your Mom can be… Oh I don't know? A bit stuck in her ways? She of course cares deeply about all of you, that's who she is. But she can often be so overly protective of her own feelings, that she ends up neglecting the needs of the people she is trying to help feel better."
"Yeah I can definitely see that… heh" Kya added somewhat quietly, trying to hint at her dad that she wanted to know what was going on.
Aang took the hint, and continued. "Well first of all, she isn't actually too far away believe it or not. She is just in the city."
"What?! She made it sound like it was some super long far away trip!" Kya was once again mad at her mom for making her think she was going across the world somewhere.
"Yes, she likely didn't want you to know she was in your grasp, she didn't want you kids to come looking for her." Aang tried to get out hastily before the anger in Kya once again took control.
"Anyway, back to what your Mom is doing, she is in the city likely talking to the council members as we speak. She is attempting to get not only a new Law put in place but to try and bring someone specific to trial for related crimes…" Aang choosing to leave out said crime momentarily.
"Ok… that makes sense I guess, but what crime? Don't you and Uncle Sokka usually handle this sort of stuff?" Kya questioned the sincerity of the statement her Father just made because of the poignant fact.
"That is true, your Uncle Sokka and I are usually the ones in the group who tend to figure these sorts of problems out, but this situation is quite different in the fact that the Law she is trying to pass sort of affected her on a personal level." Aang added, trying to keep his neutral, explanatory tone. But Kya saw a hint of sadness and fear make its ways into his words and eyes.
"What happened…?" Kya was speaking softly, worried.
"Your mother and I have told you almost everything about our adventures, but we of course left out a few things here and there. One of those was a type of bending we encountered which was more dangerous than anything you could possibly imagine. It was in a small Fire-Nation Village and we were on our way to the rendezvous point for the invasion, when we encountered an old woman by the name of Hama It just so happened that she was a waterbender… from the southern water tribe."
At those words Kya was left confused, what kind of bending could be that dangerous? I thought Mom had been the last Southern Water Tribe bender until after the war? These questions lingered in her mind. She decided she would probably get answers soon enough and motioned for her Dad to continue.
"It turns out she had been captured years before and sent to a Fire-Nation prison." Aang continued with caution, he knew he would have to tell her about it soon.
"Wait, arent fire nation prisons almost inescapable? How the heck did she get out!" Kya was now starting to fear what power this lady might have actually had.
"Well while in prison she realized something, water is of course everywhere as your Mother has taught you. You can grab it from plants, the air, even your own sweat. But with this realization Hama taught herself something truly terrifying. The power to bend the water inside of people… blood."
And there it was, all the puzzle pieces slowly clicking together inside of Kya's head, bloodbending… she had honestly thought of its possibility before but quickly shaked it out of her mind thinking it was absurd, This is why Mom didn't want to tell me…
"But if she had that kind of power, how did you guys stop her? Couldn't she literally control your every movement?" Kya asked the question Aang knew was coming.
"Well, that's where the hitting home comes in… The only way to stop a bloodbender is with another bloodbender, and well…" Aang attempted to be as cautionary as possible, hoping to not make his daughter see Katara in a negative light after realizing this truth.
"Wait, you're telling me that Mom can… bloodbend?" Kya couldn't believe what he was implying, "How could she willingly learn such a horrible sounding thing?!" Kya added soon after.
"Yes that is what I'm saying, but Kya please let me finish explaining before you pass judgement on your Mother, ok?" You could easily see the desperation in Aang's eyes.
"Ok." Kya quickly tried to remove the previous thoughts from her mind, there had to be a good explanation.
"We were all fighting Hama, trying to stop her. At the time only Katara was aware of her power as me, Uncle Sokka, and Aunt Toph had all arrived a bit late after helping some villagers. So when we arrived Hama started to control your Uncle Sokka and I… and she nearly made Sokka kill me with her power. The only reason Hama did not succeed was because your mother… out of desperation learned the ability to save our lives." Aang was starting to tear up a bit, but not to the point where it was noticeable from 6ft away where Kya stood.
"So that's why she is dealing with it personally, she is trying to get it banned isn't she? She is scared of it being used again now that bending is advancing." Kya thoughtfully noted.
"Yes, that's correct." Aang stated simply.
"Did she ever use it again?" Kya had to know the answer to this question, it was important.
Aang hesitated, should he tell her about the Southern raiders? No, that was a tale Katara deserves to tell Kya herself one day.
"Nope, never again." Aang said with confidence, very convincing.
"Thanks dad, this helped a lot… I promise I won't tell." Kya was starting to tear up a bit as well, if only she had known more about the trauma her Mom had really gone through on her journeys around the world.
"No problem Princess, make sure to apologize when she gets back, ok?" Aang wanted to make sure the problem would truly get settled after this talk, he didn't want to have to bring the subject back up if he could avoid it.
"Of course I'm going to apologize Dad! I'm not heartless." Kya yelled at him as they got out of the water, and back on to the warm, soft sand.
"Haha just making sure the conflict is all fixed up! It's my job after all." Aang replied back, starting up the staircase back to the house.
Kya lingered on the beach for a few moments after her Dad had left, she couldn't believe her Mom had experienced these things at the same age as her… It was unimaginable. She would have to make it up to her when she comes back.".
And with that, Kya continued up the stairs to go play with Bumi and Tenzin, having a better grasp of what had really happened to her Parents on their adventures, appreciating the better understanding her Dad had given her of her Mom.
I should practice with dad more often, Was Kya's last thought before she opened the door and went inside.
AUTHORS NOTES:
So, here it is, my first Fanfic, PLEASE GIVE ME FEEDBACK, I know this one shot isnt the most original idea ever and I have seen things similar to it before But I wanted to have my go at this concept! Anyway... hope you enjoyed :D
BTW I DO NOT OWN Avatar: The Last Airbender OR Avatar: The Legend of Korra, Though it would be nice.
