All recognizable content is the property of Nickelodeon and the creators/writers/owners of the Avatar franchise.
Differences from Avatar Canon Include:
- Family/Relationship changes
- Timeline shifted back ten years (Aang dies in 143).
- Harmonic Convergence Occurred in 145: All new airbenders were nonbenders born in the year 145, the same year as Opal
- Minor detail changes
Other Notes:
- Changes POV throughout story
- Includes flashbacks
WARNING: Although Korra is a main character in this story, she an the other Avatars don't show up until chapter 3.
Suyin smiled as she looked around the breakfast table at her family. On her left sat her husband, Baatar. Continuing around the circular table were her second-oldest son, Huan, her third-oldest child and only daughter, Opal, Opal's boyfriend, Bolin, who was visiting for a few days, and her youngest sons, twins Wing and Wei. Her adoptive daughter, Kuvira, was currently working with Avatar Korra as part of her reintegration into society after showing genuine remorse for her forceful attempted takeover of the Earth Kingdom and being deemed adequately rehabilitated during her prison sentence, over half of which was spent in house arrest. While Su and her family had trouble trusting Kuvira at first, Kuvira had managed to prove herself and had truly established her place as part of the family.
Su noticed that more family members than just Kuvira were missing. Her oldest son, Baatar Jr., and his wife, Rina, both of whom had been given three weeks off of work for New Year's celebrations, were also absent from the table.
"Are Junior and Rina still sleeping?" she asked, a hint of concern in her voice, as both Baatar Jr. and Rina were typically early-risers. The fact that Rina hadn't been feeling well the night before didn't ease Su's mind either.
"I think Rina might be sick again," Opal informed worriedly. "I heard someone throwing up earlier."
"Oh, dear," Su remarked sympathetically. "I'll just have someone send a tray up later."
Just as the rest of the family started breakfast, Rina arrived.
"Good morning," she greeted cheerfully, her face looking slightly pale.
"Good morning, dear," Su said kindly. "How are you feeling?"
"A bit better actually, thanks," Rina responded with a smile.
"Is Junior okay?" Wei asked worriedly. "Was he the one throwing up?"
While Wei and Baatar Jr. hadn't been close due to the latter's decision to join Kuvira, after the Beifong siblings had been kidnapped six years ago, they had grown quite close.
Summer 165
"I can't believe they just dumped us here," Wing complained, wiping some of the mud off his face.
"It could be worse," Opal said in a falsely cheerful voice. "We could be stuck with Junior... Oh, wait."
All of the other Beifong siblings turned in unison to glare at Baatar Jr., who simply sighed and looked down guiltily.
As the siblings weren't the primary objects of the attack, their kidnappers simply dropped them in the swamp, knowing that they wouldn't have any way out. Luckily, they had been taken while they were on their way to Republic City to avoid the increasing violence against Zaofu nobility, so they had some of their belongings with them. The siblings had decided that their best option was to find their grandmother, Toph Beifong, who had been living in the swamp for several years now.
"If you keep going this slow, we're going to leave you behind," Wei threatened Baatar Jr., who was struggling to navigate his wheelchair over the mud and rocks. "I swear you're doing this on purpose."
"I am not," Baatar Jr. insisted, attempting to defend himself. "The terrain's just really difficult, and I'm not feeling too well."
"Oh, no! Poor Junior's not feeling well," Wing mocked. "You know, there was this one time when Wei, Huan, Mom, Dad, and I weren't feeling well either... When you had us thrown in prison."
"Sorry," Baatar Jr. mumbled guiltily.
The siblings walked in relative silence for a few more hours before it was clear that they wouldn't be finding their grandmother anytime soon.
"I say we camp out for the night," Wing suggested with a yawn.
"Agreed," said Wei, immediately dumping his pack on the floor.
After several minutes, everyone had had something to eat and was ready for bed. Each person, with the exception of Opal and Baatar Jr., had used earthbending to build a tent for themselves. Huan had built Opal a tent, as she was an airbender, and it was decided that Baatar Jr., the only non-bender in the family, didn't deserve one.
A few hours after everyone had gone to bed, Wei began to hear noises. Emerging from his tent, he noticed that the sounds were coming from where Baatar Jr. was laying. Wei rolled his eyes angrily and stomped over to Baatar Jr.
"Shut the fuck up, Junior!" Wei whisper-shouted at Baatar Jr., throwing a pebble at the pile of blankets. Just as Wei was about to throw more rocks, he realized that the noises didn't sound like Baatar Jr. at all. In fact, they sounded like a baby crying. Wei hesitantly walked over to Baatar Jr.'s makeshift bed, and lifted one of the blankets to find a tiny infant where twenty-four-year-old Baatar Jr. should have been. Clearly shocked to find his oldest brother as a baby, and being very much out of his comfort zone with babies, Wei simply let out a very loud scream.
"What the fuck, Wei?!" Wing shouted, looking half-asleep.
"What's going on?" Opal asked sleepily.
"Junior's a-a baby!" Wei responded, still feeling in shock.
"He's a what?! " Wing said, looking very confused. Opal and Huan simply stared at Wei as though he was going crazy.
"Go check, if you don't believe me," Wei said frustratedly.
Huan lifted the blanket to find baby Baatar Jr. sniffling quietly. He gently lifted the tiny child in his arms.
"It's definitely Junior," Huan said simply. "Looks just like his baby pictures. Same birthmark on his arm."
"Why is he a baby?" Wing asked, now seeming wide awake.
"Grandma did say the swamp had magical powers," Opal said.
Wei scoffed. "She said it could help guide you. How the fuck is Junior being a baby supposed to guide anyone?"
Baatar Jr. began crying again.
"What's wrong with him?" Wei asked, staring at the baby in disgust.
Huan rolled his eyes.
"He's a baby," he responded, gently rocking the baby in his arms. "He's probably cold or hungry or something."
"Well, give him a blanket. Feed him," Wing stated, as though this was an easy fix.
"He's definitely too young for anything we have," Huan said, trying to calm Baatar Jr. down.
"Can't we give him water or something? Just for now?" Wei asked in a whining voice.
"No," Huan huffed. "He can't be more than a few months old. Water could kill him."
"And that's a bad thing?"
"Wei," Huan said warningly.
"Kidding, kidding," Wei said unconvincingly.
"Can't we mix something into the water, so he can drink it?" Wing suggested.
"There are a few herbs that are safe for infants," informed Opal, who had an interest in plants and knew quite a lot about them. "I'll see if I have any in the kit I packed."
Luckily, Opal had some infant-safe herbs, which she crushed and mixed with a little bit of water. Huan carefully fed the mixture to the infant who quickly calmed down.
"Opal, you are officially my favorite sibling," Wei said, walking over to his tent. "Well, good night, everyone."
"Not so fast," Huan said, rolling his eyes. "We need to figure our a schedule for taking care of Junior."
Wing and Wei groaned simultaneously. "But Wei and I don't know anything about babies," Wing complained.
"I don't care," Opal said. "Huan and I are not taking care of him ourselves, while you two just run around doing whatever you want."
"Fine," Wei grumbled. "Who gets to go first?"
"We can draw sticks," Opal suggested, breaking a branch into four different-sized pieces. "Shortest gets first shift, longest gets fourth."
"How long's each shift?" Wing asked, yawning.
"I think three hours," Opal responded. "There's no way he has a normal sleeping schedule yet."
After drawing sticks, Wei ended up with the first shift, Wing with the last, and Huan and Opal with second and third, respectively.
"What do I even do with him?" Wei whined as Huan placed Baatar Jr. in his arms and adjusted his hold.
Huan sighed. "Just let him sleep on your chest," he suggested, walking back to his own tent. "Babies like that. Wake me up when he wakes up. Should be in a few hours."
With that, Huan promptly closed his tent, leaving Wei alone with Baatar Jr.
"I hate you," Wei grumbled at the infant, who simply blinked up at him.
Wei took his shirt off and carefully held Baatar Jr., wearing only the cloth diaper that he had been found in, against his chest before laying down on his back.
"Let's just try to get some sleep, and in a few hours, you'll be Huan's problem," Wei said with a yawn.
When Wei woke up, he still felt the warm weight of Baatar Jr. on his chest, however, he didn't here any crying to indicate that the baby had woken up. The only thing he could hear was birds chirping from outside the tent, indicating that it was already morning.
"You alright, buddy?" Wei asked the infant who was only just beginning to wake up.
Baby Baatar Jr. gurgled in response, before placing his fist in his mouth.
"Let's go get Huan," Wei said, carefully standing up. "He can feed you."
Wei left his tent to find that everyone else had already woken up.
"I was about to go check on you two," Huan said. "Why didn't you come get me?"
"We just woke up," Wei said.
"He didn't wake up in the middle of the night?" Opal asked, sounding surprised.
"Nope," Wei responded. "I don't think so anyway."
Baatar Jr. was now frantically sucking on his fist, beginning to get quite fussy.
"He's probably hungry again," Huan said, gently taking the infant from Wei to feed him some of the fresh mixture that Opal had made a few minutes earlier.
"You know, as much as adult Junior's a pain in the ass, baby Junior's pretty sweet," Wei remarked. "We just cuddled the whole night."
"That's so cute," Wing squealed, smiling at Baatar Jr.
"Still don't understand what this is supposed to teach us, though," Wei remarked.
While Huan finished feeding Baatar Jr. and laid him down on a pile of blankets for some playtime, Opal, Wing, and Wei attempted to make some baby toys.
"We made a rattle," Opal said proudly, handing Huan a rattle made of twigs, small pebbles, and some spare metal.
"It looks terrible," Huan said, staring unimpressed at the makeshift toy.
"Well, why don't you make the toys, then, Mr. Artist?" Wei scoffed, walking over to Baatar Jr. "I'll play with Junior."
"Hi, Baby Junior," Wei said in a high-pitched voice, causing his siblings to look at him in disgust. Baatar babbled while flailing his arms, turning his head in the direction of Wei's voice.
"His eyes don't seem to track at all," Huan informed everyone. "I'm not sure if that'll be a problem."
"He's fine," Wei assured simply. "Isn't that right, Baby Junior? You're just fine, huh?"
The other three siblings, however, seemed a bit more concerned.
"A baby his age should be able to track movement at least a little bit," Opal said.
"He has had glasses for forever," Wing said. "But then again, he was already eight by the time Wei and I came along, so I'm not sure how old he was when he started to have eye problems."
"Quit worrying," Wei said, now lying on his back with Baatar Jr. laying on his chest, babbling happily while reaching for Wei's face. "Baby Junior is fine. And, even if he's not, he'll be back to normal soon enough."
Although they had all agreed to work together to look after baby Baatar Jr. in shifts, Wei had taken over all of the playtimes and naps, leaving the others with feedings and diaper changes.
"Shouldn't a kid his age be sleeping more?" Wing asked, watching Wei and Baatar Jr. having their fourth playtime session of the day.
Huan shrugged. "He slept a lot last night."
"He's also super talkative for his age," Opal remarked, noting Baatar Jr.'s nearly constant babbling. "Most of the little ones at the Air Temple only start babbling like that when they're a bit older."
"Maybe he's just a little smarty pants. Aren't you, Junior?" Wei said, lying on his stomach and making funny faces at Baatar Jr. "Who's a little smarty pants? Junior is."
Baatar Jr. simply giggled in response.
A little bit after the sun had set, Wing fed and burped Baatar Jr. and attempted to lay him down to sleep, which did not go well.
"What's wrong, Baby Junior?" Wei asked, coming back after relieving himself deep in the woods. "What did mean old Wing do?"
Baatar Jr. tearfully babbled in response, making grabby hands as he reached out for Wei.
"Here, let me take you away from him," Wei said, immediately taking Baatar Jr. from his twin brother, cuddling the infant close to his chest.
"He could've just said he wanted to go to you," Wing said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.
Wei scoffed. "He was trying to, but you weren't listening to him."
"First of all, he can't talk," Wing said angrily. "And second, you and I are identical !"
"We are not ," Wei argued. "He can obviously tell the difference."
"Let's just eat some dinner and go to bed," Opal said, attempting to diffuse the impending argument.
After dinner, everyone went to their separate tents, with Wei bringing Baatar Jr. with him.
When Wei woke up, he was shocked to find a small child, no older than two or three, large eyes staring at him behind a pair of round glasses.
Wei screamed in surprise, causing the child to flinch slightly but continue staring at him nonetheless.
"Erm,... who are you?" Wei asked, looking around for the infant that had been sleeping on his chest the night before.
"I'm Baatar Jr.," the child said simply. "But my mommy and daddy just call me 'Junior'. Who are you?"
Wei let out a sigh of relief, grateful that he had not lost the infant version of his oldest brother, but still confused as to how quickly the child had grown.
"I'm Wei," he answered.
"Hi, Wei," Baatar Jr. greeted politely. "Why am I here? Where are my mommy and daddy and brother?"
Wei noted that this meant that Baatar Jr. had only had one sibling at this point, meaning that he definitely couldn't be older than six.
"Why are we in a tent? Where are you from? How did we get here?" Baatar Jr. continued rapidly, not pausing to allow Wei to answer any of these questions. "How long are we staying here? Are you gonna take me back home? Why-"
"Woah, woah, woah, there, buddy," Wei said, lifting his hands up, finally remembering his voice. "Slow down."
"But, you didn't answer any of my questions," Baatar Jr. pointed out with a sad look on his face.
"I'll answer them soon. Okay, buddy?" Wei said gently, noticing the child's tearful eyes. "Why don't we get something to eat first? Are you hungry?"
Baatar Jr., who was now sucking his thumb, nodded.
"Alright, buddy," Wei said, lifting the small child into his arms before opening the tent. "You're pretty chatty for someone so small."
"Wow, looks like someone grew," Opal remarked.
"Hi," Baatar Jr. greeted with a smile, previous disappointment seemingly forgotten.
"Hi, sweetie," Opal said enthusiastically. "How old are you?"
"Two years, ten months, and sixteen days," Baatar Jr. answered after a few seconds, causing his siblings to stare at him in shock. After asking Baatar Jr. what the date was, the siblings found that two-year-old Baatar Jr. had, in fact, accurately stated how old he was to the day.
"Have you been counting, little buddy?" Wing asked Baatar Jr. jokingly.
"No," Baatar Jr. said simply, clearly not realizing that Wing was joking. "I just thought about it."
"You've got quite the vocabulary for a two-year-old," Opal pointed out. "Do you like to read?"
Baatar Jr. nodded enthusiastically. "I like to read."
Wei scoffed and said "Nerd" under his breath.
"What does 'nerd' mean?" Baatar Jr. asked innocently, causing Wing to nearly choke.
"Erm, well, it's… erm," Wei stammered, clearly not expecting Baatar Jr. to hear him.
Opal glared at Wei before turning to Baatar Jr.
"'Nerd' is just what dumb people, like Wei, call people smarter than them," she explained gently.
"Oh," Baatar Jr. said, seemingly satisfied with Opal's explanation. "Okay."
After eating breakfast, lunch, and learning everyone's names, Baatar Jr. began getting tired.
"You ready for a nap, buddy?" Wei asked Baatar Jr. after his fifth yawn in the span of a few minutes.
"I am not sleepy," Baatar Jr. said, trying to seem convincing.
"Come on, kiddo," Wei insisted. "Even tiny geniuses like you need a nap every once in a while."
Baatar Jr. huffed. "Will you take a nap with me?" he looked up at Wei with puppy-dog eyes.
"Of course," Wei said immediately, despite telling everyone else that he would not, claiming that Baatar Jr. was old enough to nap on his own. "Let's go lay down."
After ten minutes, both Wei and Baatar Jr. were fast asleep on a pile of blankets.
Opal chuckled, throwing a blanket over the pair. "So much for baby Junior not having Wei wrapped around his finger."
"I can't believe that kid's only two," Wing said, cleaning up after lunch. "I'm pretty sure two-year-olds shouldn't be speaking full sentences yet."
"None of the kids at the Air Temple were speaking like that at two," Opal remarked. "He sounds like a squeaky, lispy six-year-old."
"And the way he calculated exactly how old he was?" Wing said, sounding completely impressed. "I didn't realize Junior was that smart as a kid. Wonder when his genius-ness wore off. When do you think, Huan?"
Huan simply stared off, looking slightly irritated.
"Junior's always been smart. He still is," he informed. "It's just that no one ever really talks about it."
"Excuse me?!" Opal said, confused and somewhat angry. "If he was oh so smart, he wouldn't have gone with Kuvira, and betrayed all of us. Clearly, he's not as smart as you seem to think. I don't understand why you're defending him."
Huan simply sighed in response and walked away, effectively ending the conversation.
Luckily, when Wei and Baatar Jr. woke up from their nap, Opal's anger had died down, and she was perfectly kind to the toddler.
The rest of the day had gone well, and the next morning, Baatar Jr. was, once again, a few years older than he had been the day previously. He was also, once again, wearing, presumably, the clothes that he had worn the actual day that he was supposed to be in.
"Hey, Junior," Opal said to the now six-year-old, some time after lunch. "Let's go read a book."
"You want to read with me?" Baatar Jr. asked, sounding surprised.
"Of course," Opal assured, confused by Baatar Jr.'a shocked tone of voice. "Why wouldn't I?"
Baatar Jr. shrugged nonchalantly. "My mommy and daddy are always too busy to read with me, so I usually just read by myself."
"Oh," Opal said, feeling quite sorry for the child. "Well, I'm not busy, and I'd love to read with you."
While Opal's book on herbs and plants was likely too difficult for a typical six-year-old to read, she figured that it would be fairly easy for a child like Baatar Jr.
"What you readin'?" Wei asked, plopping down beside Baatar Jr.
" One Hundred Common Herbs and Their Uses ," Baatar Jr. recited from memory, not even needing to look at the cover of the book.
"Boring!" Wei chanted, causing Opal to hit him on the arm.
"It's not boring," Baatar Jr. assured sincerely. "I think it's really cool."
"Of course, you do, kiddo," Wei said ruffling Baatar Jr.'s hair.
"Do you think I'll get to read books like this at my new school?" Baatar Jr. asked hopefully.
"Maybe," Opal said encouragingly. "Why are you going to a new school?"
Baatar Jr. looked sad. "My mommy and daddy said that the schoolwork at my old school is too easy for me," he said, sounding quite disappointed. "So, I have to go to a new school."
"Oh," Wei said. "But that's a good thing, isn't it?"
Baatar Jr. shrugged dejectedly. "I like my old school," he said, almost tearfully. "My friends are there, and the teachers are nice. Maybe, if they make the work harder, then I could stay."
Wei and Opal looked at each other worriedly. "Well, then the work would be too difficult for the other kids," Opal tried to explain gently.
Baatar Jr. shook his head. "No, it wouldn't be," he insisted. "And if it is, I could help them."
"I don't think that'll work, buddy," Wei said gently.
Baatar Jr. sighed and sat quietly for a moment before speaking again. "Maybe, if I just write all the wrong answers on my homework, they won't make me move schools."
"Why would you do that?" Opal asked confusedly.
"Then they won't think the work is too easy for me," Baatar Jr. responded as though this was obvious.
"I get your line of thinking, believe me, I do," Wei stated. "But you are such a smart little guy. I'm pretty sure you're the smartest person in this whole swamp right now. You deserve to learn new, interesting things. You shouldn't be stuck watching other kids learning to read when you've been reading for years."
Baatar Jr. looked down, clearly taking in what Wei had just said. "But what if no one likes me at my new school?"
"How could no one like you?" Wei asked enthusiastically. "You're a great kid! And anyone who doesn't like you is an idiot."
"You think so?" Baatar Jr. asked hopefully.
"Of course, I think so," Wei assured sincerely. "You are so smart and so nice, and everyone will love you, I promise."
Baatar Jr. gave a toothy smile before hugging Wei tightly.
Once everyone had had dinner, and Baatar Jr. was fast asleep, tucked into bed in his own tent, Opal decided to bring the subject of schooling up again.
"So, Huan," Opal started. "Junior mentioned that he had to be switched to a new school. Do you remember any of the details around that?"
Huan sat quietly for a moment. "Not really," he admitted. "You and him always went to non-bending schools, while the rest of us went to bending schools, so I don't know much about his schooling."
Opal considered what Huan had said for a moment. "Well, at least in Zaofu, non-bending schools are split into two levels: primary and secondary," she explained. "Primary is for kids under twelve, and they learn reading and basic math and things like that, and secondary is for older kids where they learn more difficult work and specialize in different things."
"Well, if the primary level is for kids five to twelve," Wing considered. "Then Junior would've still been there when you started school."
"I don't remember him being there, and I knew other kids who were his age, but they never mentioned him," Opal informed. "Maybe he got switched to a different primary school."
"Why would Mom and Dad do that if he'd probably still be learning the same things?" Huan reasoned
"True," Opal sighed. "But I just don't see why Mom and Dad would put their six-year-old in a school with teenagers."
"I suppose we'll see tomorrow," Huan said. "He'll probably be old enough for us to all him which school he goes to."
Wei woke up to whimpered crying coming from Baatar Jr.'s tent.
"Junior?" Wei called out, simultaneously using earthbending to check if Baatar Jr. was physically hurt and needed urgent help. "Is everything alright?"
The whimpers stopped.
"I-I'm okay," Baatar Jr. stammered unconvincingly.
"I'm gonna come in, okay?" Wei said, not wanting to point out that he knew Baatar Jr. had been crying and potentially embarrass the child.
"'Kay," Baatar Jr. responded.
"Hey, there, buddy," Wei said sitting down next to the child.
"How do you know me?" Baatar Jr. asked, still sniffling slightly but clearly trying to make it seem like he hadn't just been crying.
"I'm a… friend… of your parents," Wei said, hoping that Baatar Jr. would be satisfied enough with this answer.
"Oh," Baatar Jr. said, looking skeptical. "I've never met you."
"Well, my name is Wei," Wei said.
"I have a brother named Wei," Baatar Jr. remarked, causing Wei to mentally note to tell the others not to give their real names.
"Well, he was named after me," Wei said, taking a bit of a risk.
"No, he wasn't," Baatar Jr. remarked, staring at Wei as though he was crazy. "He was named after Mom's crazy pirate friend who tried to eat our phonebook when he was drunk."
"Wow, erm, okay," Wei said, feeling shocked and oddly betrayed by his parents.
"So, what were you upset about?" Wei asked after a few minutes of silence.
"Nothing," Baatar Jr. said unconvincingly, attempting to discreetly wipe the last of his tears.
"You know, it's good to get your feelings out," Wei reasoned. "As far as you know, I'm a stranger, so who cares if I judge, which I won't by the way"
"But you might tell my parents," Baatar Jr. argued.
"I promise I won't," Wei assured.
Baatar Jr. sighed, wrapping his arms around himself. "I don't think my grandma likes me very much."
"Oh," Wei responded, not quite sure of what to say, as it was no secret that, for some unknown reason, Toph had never been too fond of Baatar Jr. "Why would you say that?"
"She always calls me the 'non-bender' instead of my name, even though Opal also can't bend and the twins are too young to bend yet," Baatar Jr. explained. "And she never wants to spend any time with me. And whenever I'm in the room she just ignores me."
"Oh… that's...I'm sorry," Wei said, completely unsure of how to respond.
"This time, she didn't even give me a hug when she came to visit us, even though she gave everyone else a hug," Baatar Jr. added, nearly in tears.
"Why don't you show her some of your cool inventions?" Wei suggested, thinking that, because Toph invented metalbending at the age of twelve, maybe she would be happy to hear that her grandson also enjoyed inventing, albeit without bending.
"I've tried," Baatar Jr. said dejectedly. "She either just pretends I'm not talking or she calls my inventions useless for people who know how to bend."
"Oh," Wei responded. "I'm sorry, kiddo."
"S'okay," Baatar Jr. said quietly.
"Why don't we get some breakfast," Wei suggested. "That might make you feel a bit better."
Baatar Jr. nodded, wiping his tears before standing up.
"Junior, this is Sokka, Suki, and Kanto," Wei introduced, naming Huan, Opal, and Wing after his paternal grandparents and maternal grandfather. "They're also friends of yours parents."
Wei simply mouthed "Later" in response to his siblings' confused faces. He didn't want to risk his siblings making the same mistake he had made minutes ago.
"Hi," Baatar Jr. greeted somewhat shyly, before sitting down for breakfast.
"Hi, Junior," Opal greeted. "How old are you now?"
"Eleven," Baatar Jr. responded.
"Awesome! What school do you go to?" Wing asked immediately, apparently physically unable to be subtle.
"Erm, Zaofu Secondary School," Baatar Jr., looking at Wing with concern.
"Already?" Opal remarked sounding surprised. "You're a bit young to be going to secondary school, aren't you?"
Baatar Jr. simply shrugged. "My mom and dad moved me there when I was six," he responded as though this wasn't unusual. "I'm supposed to graduate next year."
"That's cool," Wing said. "Isn't it weird not having any kids your own age at school with you? Don't you feel like the weird smart kid?"
"My best friend, Rina's, the same age as me, and she's in all the same classes as me," Baatar Jr. said simply, clearly unaware that he was any different from anyone else. "And my mom and dad always say that no one is smarter than anyone else. Everyone learns at their own pace."
Wei looked a bit annoyed by this statement. "Well, I think it's pretty cool that you learn so fast," he said, beginning to understand why Baatar Jr. felt overshadowed. "If you have a special gift, it's important for your parents to at least acknowledge it. My parents always made sure to congratulate me when I did anything cool or when I accomplished something with bending."
Baatar Jr. simply shrugged in response, clearly not understanding why it was such a big deal.
"Why don't I show you some of my artwork, Junior?" Huan offered suddenly, standing up.
"Sure," Baatar Jr. responded enthusiastically. "My little brother Huan likes to make art projects, too. My mom says he's got the makings of a brilliant artist."
Huan quickly led Baatar Jr. away from the others to show him some of the sculptures he had been working on while stuck in the swamp.
"I can't believe they would do that!" Wei said angrily, once Baatar Jr. was out of earshot.
"They had to have had their reasons," Opal said unconvincingly.
"Let's be super encouraging to our bending kids, while we dump our non-bending kid in a school with older kids and still pretend that he's not special," Wei said mockingly imitating his parents.
"Maybe, they just didn't want him to get a big head," Opal suggested, still wanting to defend her parents despite not quite agreeing with their choices.
"But they didn't care if Huan, Wing, you, and I, got big heads?" Wei asked. "Huan, the artistic genius, Opal, the miracle airbender, Wing and Wei, innovative star athletes, and Junior, the regular, non-bending kid, who hangs out with his brilliant architect father all day."
"For the head of the "I Hate Junior" Club, you seem pretty upset about all this," Wing pointed out.
Wei huffed. "Believe me, I hate Junior for what he did," he insisted. "But I also hate imagining smart, sweet little kid Junior being treated like that. Adult Junior deserves it, not kid Junior."
"Well, there's nothing we can do about it, now," Wing pointed out.
Wei huffed irritatedly. "Well, I'll just give the kid the praise and encouragement he deserves," he said. "No kid that smart should go through life thinking they're not special."
"And what good would that do?" Opal asked, a slight edge to her voice. "We're getting snippets from his life. Nothing we tell him will change anything."
"It'll make me feel better," Wei said somewhat dejectedly.
"Let's go see what Huan and Junior are up to," Opal suggested, seeing the sad look on Wei's face.
"Hey, there, you two," Opal said, waving at Huan and Junior who were working on one of Huan's projects. "What are you up to?"
"Junior's helping me make my sculpture light up," Huan said, sounding genuinely excited.
"There's no electricity here, though," Wing asked confused.
"We're using water power," Baatar Jr. explained. "The water falls down this slide which causes it to move these wheels which activates the generator which makes enough electricity to light up the bulbs that Huan made with metalbending. Huan's a really good metalbender."
"I wouldn't have been able to bend the light bulbs, if you didn't give me such good instructions," Huan said with an encouraging smile. "You're one smart kid."
"Thanks," Baatar Jr. said with a shy smile.
The next morning, Wei woke up to banging on the tent walls.
"Wing! Wei! Let me out of here, right now," Baatar Jr. shouted. "I know it was you two. Please, just let me out!"
Wei immediately let the tent walls drop.
"Thank-" Baatar Jr., who now appeared to be in his late teens, started, before realizing that he wasn't at his family's house.
"Who are you, and where am I?" Baatar Jr. asked immediately on guard.
Wei noted that the swamp's magic probably prevented Baatar Jr. from recognizing him.
"I'm, erm, Li," Wei said.
"You don't seem too sure about that," Baatar Jr. asked raising an eyebrow
"I am!" Wei insisted.
"Okay, Li ," Baatar Jr. said clearly unconvinced. "Where am I?"
"In a swamp?" Wei asked, taking a chance.
Baatar Jr. huffed and pinched the bridge of his nose, a clear sign that he was annoyed. "I can see that, dumbass," he said. "Where exactly am I, and, more importantly, why am I not at home?"
Wei sighed completely unsure of how he was going to get out of this. "Look, Junior, it's a long story-" he started.
"How do you who I am?" Baatar Jr. asked immediately.
"I'm a friend of your parents," Wei said, this time more convincingly than last time he had used this explanation. "They sent you here for me and a few other friends to look after you."
"Oh," Baatar Jr. said, immediately sitting down, looking dejected and somewhat embarrassed. "Sorry about that. I didn't realize. Makes sense now though."
"What do you mean?" Wei asked, taking a seat next to Baatar Jr., not expecting him to give in that quickly.
Baatar Jr. sighed. "Yesterday, while my parents were out, my little brothers went on a full-blown rampage breaking my parents' fancy China cabinet and this really expensive vase that they got as a wedding gift," Baatar Jr. explained. "So, I scolded them and told them they needed to try to fix it or at least clean up or something. And, of course, they were upset with me, but then, later,they started feeling guilty and tried to clean up their mess. They're only ten, so it was too difficult for them, so I promised them I'd figure out a way to get them out of trouble because they really did try to fix it."
"What did you do?" Wing, who had been listening in, asked.
"He told Mo- his parents that he did it," Huan, who had also been listening, responded.
"Why the fuck would you do that?" Wei asked, looking almost furious.
"They're only ten," Baatar Jr. said defensively. "And they really did try their best to fix things."
"That doesn't mean you should get the blame for their mistakes," Opal said, jumping out from her hiding place.
"They're my little brothers," Baatar Jr. said angrily. "They drive me insane but I'd do anything for them. And besides, I should've been watching them closer."
"What was your punishment?" Wei asked.
"Erm, well, you see…" Baatar Jr. started, looking like he'd rather be anywhere else.
"What was it?" Wei repeated more aggressively.
"They took my toolbox away until I earn up the money to replace everything that broke," Baatar Jr. explained. "I have no clue how I'm gonna do that if I'm stuck here though."
Wing nearly choked on the water he was drinking, Opal and Huan simply looked sad, and Wei looked completely livid.
"Let me get this straight, you need to earn up the money to replace a full China cabinet and an expensive vase, or you don't get your toolbox, something that I happen to know you worked damn hard to earn in the first place, seeing as you bought it yourself and filled it with high quality stuff that you also bought yourself," Wei said, red with anger.
"Don't remind me," Baatar Jr. sighed sadly. "But it was kind of worth it seeing the happy looks on Wing and Wei's faces when I told them they were off the hook. They, of course, don't know how I managed to get them off the hook, and I don't intend on them finding out."
Wei angrily huffed and punched a tree before stomping away, leaving Baatar Jr. and his other siblings in shock.
"Are you alright?" Huan asked, checking up on Wei, after giving him nearly an hour to calm down."
"No," Wei grumbled. "Junior had to earn the amount of money one would need to buy a small house to fix Wing and my mistake, and how do Wing and I repay him? With constant mocking. And the worst part is I know for a fact that this is not the only time he's done something like this to save our sorry asses."
"It's just what big brothers do, I guess," Huan said, unsure of how to make Wei feel better. "He's done things like that for all of us, by the way, not just you and Wing, so don't feel too bad."
"It's not fair," Wei remarked nearly in tears. "He gets the least recognition in this family, and he damn well knows it, and yet, he keeps trying to help us. And then when he makes one actual mistake of his own, we shun him."
"Well, it was a pretty big mistake," Huan reminded him.
"We should get back to the others," Huan said after a few quiet moments.
Wei simply nodded, wiping the few angry tears that had fallen from his eyes.
"Oh, you're back," Baatar Jr. said, looking up at them from the ground where he was working on Huan's light up sculpture that, unbeknownst to him, he had worked on the day before. "I was just making some improvements to the water power technology you were using."
"Not that it wasn't good before," he added hastily. "I just thought it would be nice."
"No problem," Huan said with an encouraging smile. " I actually don't completely understand how it worked before. Someone much smarter than me came up with it."
"It's a really great concept, using water to power the light bulbs," Baatar Jr. assured. "I just think there could be a few improvements to the generator itself."
"You're really smart," Wei told Baatar Jr., who smiled.
"Thanks. I just really like fixing things," he said sincerely. "I've been doing it since I was little. My dad lets me engineer his designs now that I'm done with school."
"That's pretty cool," Opal said, joining the conversation . "I would've thought you'd have gone to university to learn more about engineering, maybe get a degree."
"I really wanted to," Baatar Jr. said, a hint of disappointment in his eyes. "But my parents wouldn't let me. They said they didn't understand how it would benefit me. Strange to think they're letting Opal go to the Air Temple to master airbending."
The rest of the day went on without a hitch, and soon Baatar Jr. decided that he was tired and went to bed in a tent Wei made for him.
After Baatar Jr. went to bed, the other four siblings discussed the events of that day.
"I can't believe I'm saying this," Wing said. "But I actually feel really bad for Junior."
Opal nodded. "I can't believe our parents wouldn't let him go to university. He would've done great. He could've been teaching engineering now if he wanted to."
"But that would make him smart and special and his own person," Wei said mockingly. "And clearly our parents didn't want to have a kid who was both special and a non-bender."
"Maybe this is what the swamp wanted us to learn," Wing said suddenly.
"What do you mean?" Wei asked.
"Maybe this was all to teach us why Junior did what he did," Wing explained. "Remember when Kuvira and Baatar Jr. were trying to take over Zaofu. Baatar Jr. said he was sick of being stuck in Dad's shadow. Maybe he was actually sick of being stuck in all of our shadows, and Kuvira was the only person who actually acknowledged his talents."
"And he fell in love with her because he thought she actually saw him for him," Opal added with a sad sigh. "Then she used that to brainwash him into believing she loved him, too."
"Poor Junior," Wei said, after a few minutes of silence.
Eventually, the siblings all went to bed.
This time, Wei woke up to Baatar Jr. calling for his ex-fiancée.
"Kuvira?" Baatar Jr. called. "Are you there? I said I was sorry."
Despite his newfound understanding of Baatar Jr.'s motives, Wei couldn't help but feel a surge of anger knowing that the Baatar Jr. who was currently trapped in an earth tent was the same Baatar Jr. who had betrayed his entire family and had them thrown in prison.
Wei huffed angrily before rather aggressively dropping the walls of the earth tent.
"Oh, who are you?" Baatar Jr. asked confusedly. "Where am I?"
"We're nomads," Huan answered, thinking quickly. "Who are you?"
"My name's Baatar," he answered. "You haven't seen my fiancée by any chance, have you?"
"You're the only person outside of our group that we've seen," Huan answered simply.
"Oh, I wonder how I got here," Baatar Jr. said mostly to himself. "Maybe Kuvira sent me here. I can't imagine why though."
"Kuvira's your fiancée?" Wei asked, attempting to seem as though he had no idea who Baatar Jr. was.
"Yeah," Baatar Jr. confirmed with a small smile.
"So, erm, how's that going for you?" Wing asked somewhat awkwardly.
Baatar Jr. sighed deeply, not seeming too happy. "Usually, it's pretty nice, you know, being in love with someone."
Baatar Jr. stopped for a moment.
"But?..." Wei prompted, curious to hear more.
"Lately, it's been a bit diffic-," Baatar Jr. looked suspiciously at everyone. "Why am I telling you any of this?"
Huan shrugged nonchalantly. "We're nomads, you're a stranger, we'll probably forget by tomorrow."
"Plus, you seem like you need to get this off your chest," Opal added.
Baatar Jr. considered their reasoning for a few moments before giving in. "Fair enough."
"So, as you were saying, things were getting difficult with your fiancée," Wei prompted, curious to hear more, as he had assumed that things had been going perfectly between Kuvira and Baatar Jr. until Kuvira tried to blow Baatar Jr. up with his own invention.
"Yeah, well, she's… angry with me at the moment," Baatar Jr. admitted.
"Why?" Opal asked, gently, although still clearly eager to learn more.
"Well, she, erm, she was trying to take over this...erm,... building ," Baatar Jr. said, hesitantly, changing the story slightly. "And the people of the building didn't exactly agree to it, so she decided she was going to blow it up with this machine that I kind of built for her."
"Okay…," Wei said, urging Baatar Jr. to continue.
"Anyway, so, right when we were set to do it," Baatar Jr. continued. "I noticed my little sister in the ci... building , and I called it off."
"And Kuvira wasn't happy about this," Wing guessed.
"She was furious," Baatar Jr. confirmed, curling in on himself slightly.
"What did she do exactly?" Huan asked, sounding slightly concerned, having been on the receiving end of Kuvira's anger once before.
"The usual," Baatar Jr. said nonchalantly. "Roughed me up a bit."
"Roughed you up a bit?" Wei repeated, feeling both concerned and angry. "Like how?"
Baatar Jr. looked up at Wei confused as to why he was getting upset. "You know, threw me into walls, hit me a couple times."
"Has this happened before?" Wei asked, now definitely angry.
"Only when I've done something to set her off," Baatar Jr. said defensively.
"Anger is not an excuse to hurt someone," Wei said. "No matter how angry they make you."
"She had a difficult childhood," Baatar Jr. defended, now growing angry as well. "And I should have known not to make her angry."
"Well, you're angry right now," Wei pointed out. "Are you going to hit me?"
"No!" Baatar Jr. said, looking slightly offended that Wei would even think that. "But that's different."
"How?!" Wei asked aggressively.
"I just don't do things like that," Baatar Jr. said. "It's not okay."
"But it is okay for your fiancée to beat you up because you said or did something she didn't like," Wei said.
Baatar Jr. huffed and rolled his eyes, before quietly saying, "It's not like that."
"What's the worst she's hurt you?" Opal asked, also visibly upset.
Baatar Jr. sighed. "She choked me unconscious once."
Wei simply stomped away at this point.
"And what was her excuse for that?" Opal asked heatedly.
"I asked her to let my family out of prison," Baatar Jr. said. "It was stupid of me to ask, and it didn't work anyway, seeing as I almost ended up dead and they're still in prison. I never should've asked in the first place."
Opal, angry tears rapidly filling her eyes, walked away as well.
"Why don't we make something to eat?" Huan suggested. "I think we're all just a bit hungry."
"You two get started," Wing said. "I'll go check on W...the others.
"You okay?" Wing asked his twin brother after taking a few minutes to find him.
"Just fucking peachy," Wei grumbled, rolling his tear-filled eyes.
Wing sighed and placed a hand on his brother's shoulder.
"She was hurting him, and he still stayed with her," Wei said in a sad, quiet voice.
"He was in love with her," Wing offered as an explanation, not quite knowing how to comfort his brother. "She must not have loved him, though."
"I can't imagine how he must feel, now," Wei said sadly. "Knowing that she didn't actually love him all along."
"Probably pretty unlovable," Wing reasoned.
"Especially considering the way we've been treating him," Wei added guiltily.
"I can't believe he actually saved Opal," Wei said after a few minutes.
"He also tried to get us out of prison," Wing informed Wei. "It's why Kuvira choked him out."
Wei simply clenched his fists in anger.
"I think I'll step down from the 'I Hate Junior' club and switch to the 'I Hate Kuvira' club," he said, chuckling while wiping some stray tears.
The rest of the day went on fairly well, with Baatar Jr. believing that Kuvira must've had some reason for sending him there and that he likely didn't remember why because he must've hit his head when Kuvira threw him into a wall.
When the siblings woke up the next morning, they were surprised to find that Baatar Jr. hadn't woken up yet.
"You sure Junior isn't awake yet?" Opal asked again.
"I'm pretty sure, Opal," Huan said irritatedly. "Junior isn't the type to just lay awake in bed, you know that, we all know that."
" I know," Opal insisted. " But he is the type to wake up absurdly early, and it's pretty late in the morning now."
"Why don't we check on him, then?" Wei said, standing up and walking over to Baatar Jr.'s tent.
"Junior!" Wei shouted, knocking aggressively on the side of the tent. "Wakey wakey! Rise and shine!"
"I am awake," Baatar Jr. grumbled.
"Well, I hope you're decent," Wei said, before promptly dropping the walls of Baatar Jr.'s tent.
Baatar Jr. was lying flat on his back looking up at Wei.
"Well, are you gonna get up?" Wei asked.
Baatar Jr. huffed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I'm paralyzed from the waist down," he reminded him sounding annoyed. "And I'm lying on the ground and I don't have any pull-up bars or supports. I couldn't get up even if my life depended on it."
"Oh, right," Wei responded sheepishly. "Erm, well, what do you need me to do, you know, to help you?"
"You're offering to help me?" Baatar Jr. asked, looking shocked but grateful.
"Think about it this way," Wing said, bringing Baatar Jr.'s wheelchair over. "The quicker you get in this wheelchair, the quicker we find grandma and get out of here."
"Oh, right," Baatar Jr. said, sounding slightly dejected.
After several minutes, Baatar Jr. was in his wheelchair, the camp was cleared, and the siblings were once again on their way to find their grandmother.
"So, Junior, what do you remember from the past few days?" Wei asked, while discreetly earthbending a smoother path for Baatar Jr. to navigate his wheelchair.
Baatar Jr looked very confused at Wei's question.
"Erm, well, things were getting bad in Zaofu, Mom and Dad tried to send us to Republic City, we got kidnapped, and then we were dumped here," Baatar Jr. responded seeming confused.
"And then?" Wei asked.
"And then we set up camp, ate, went to bed, and woke up this morning," Baatar Jr. added, looking deeply concerned for Wei. "Are you feeling alright?"
"Yeah, I'm great," Wei said quickly, realizing that Baatar Jr. had no recollection of what Wei, Wing, Opal, and Huan had experienced. "Just having some trouble remembering things."
"You didn't hit your head, did you?" asked Baatar Jr., looking even more concerned. "Maybe you should sit down for a bit and just relax. We should probably get you something to eat, too. Your vitamin levels might be low."
"I'm fine, Junior," Wei assured, rolling his eyes, but feeling oddly grateful for the normalcy of the situation. "No need to go into big brother mode."
"If you're having memory problems this bad, then you are not fine,," Baatar Jr. said, already looking through his pack for fruits and other snacks.
"Sit," Baatar Jr. ordered Wei, who rolled his eyes again but sat down nonetheless. "Eat these."
Baatar Jr. rolled over to Wei and handed him a peach and a small sack of assorted nuts and berries.
"I can eat and walk at the same time, you know," Wei grumbled.
"We are not leaving until you've eaten everything I handed to you," Baatar Jr. said, crossing his arms, adamantly refusing to move until he decided that his little brother was well enough to continue on.
"Nope, that was me," Rina informed with a smile. "Feeling better now, though. Baatar should be-".
"Good morning," Baatar Jr. greeted, rolling in on his wheelchair, one of the only clearly visible remnants of his terrible breakup with Kuvira, the other remnant being a large scar across his face.
"There he is," Su said cheerfully. "The man of the hour. How are you this morning?"
"I'm alright, Mom," Baatar Jr. responded with a smile before moving over to sit next to his wife.
Just as the family was finishing up breakfast, the doors to the large dining room were pulled open.
"Oh, erm, good morning, everyone," Kuvira greeted, looking around the room, certainly more than a bit stressed.
"Hello, there, Kuvira, dear," Su greeted in response. "Is everything alright?"
"Not exactly," Kuvira admitted. "Avatar Korra wasn't here by any chance, was she?"
"No," Su responded confused. "She's supposed to be in Republic City with you."
"Well, no one has seen her all morning," Kuvira stated. "Chief Beifong's already searched the entire city. She's not there."