Hello and Happy Two-Year anniversary! It's hard to believe it's already been so long since I started -and when I wrote "The End". As a celebration of two years, here's a special chapter featuring something I always felt was missing...a touch of sappy romance. Stay tuned after the cut for a bit of blogging and updates on the future.

Post Script: Power Couple

Shuffling footsteps kicked up dirt on their way up the dusty road. A path that had stood empty just months ago was now well-worn. The strangers swift footsteps left footprints alongside a hundred others as he headed for his destination.

There was a worn-out spot on the door where many before him had knocked upon the door. Paying no heed to this, the shuffling man lined up his knuckles with the worn spot and knocked on the door.

Muffled sounds of argument followed shortly after this knock. Three voices alternated yelling at one another for a few minutes, until finally one of the loudest voices relented. The door was, quite slowly and reluctantly, unlocked.

"Yes, hello, what do you want," Whistler said in her "I want to do you bodily harm" voice. The stranger at the door was unimpeded.

"I am looking for Avatar Sen," He demanded. His pencil-thin mustache bobbed atop his lips as he spoke. Whistler squinted at the strange facial hair for a moment before responding.

"He's not here," she responded flatly.

"He lives here," The mustache man protested.

"He's out," Whistler said. She moved to close the door, but the man insisted on staying, sticking his foot in the door. Whistler pushed the door closed on his foot until he gasped in pain.

"He's on vacation," Whistler shouted. She looked to the side of the door. Sen had prepared them for just this eventuality. She grabbed one of the statements Sen had prepared -and a pen.

"Listen here, Whistler, I am a representative of the Institute of Cephalotacean Research, and I have a serious-"

"Yeah, uh huh," Whistler said. She had begun writing a short note on a piece of paper. "What's that in simpler terms?"

"We deal with certain kinds of marine life," The Institute representative clarified. Whistler nodded and finished up her note.

"Avatar Sen left these for people like you," She said. As much as she hated answering the door, the "statements" Sen had prepared actually were a bit fun. He had made sure to consult Whistler on some of the important parts.

Whistler handed over the prepared statement to the increasingly confused man trapped at the door.

"Make sure you read all the way to the bottom," Whistler advised. Then, in a rush of air, the rep was pushed out the door and it was slammed closed behind him. He carefully unfolded the message from Avatar Sen and read it to himself.

"Dear Sir Or Madam,

I am unavailable at the moment as I am taking a long-overdue vacation. If there is a pressing matter that demands an Avatar's attention, members of my team are ready to attend to it. If you are reading this, it means whatever you were going to complain about was not a pressing matter. These issues fall into one of two camps; A: things outside my sphere of influence, and B: things that are pointless.

If A: Please understand that I am deeply concerned about most social and economic issues, but the Avatar is not an official government authority and as such I have no power to directly change government policy. If you want change, please contact your local representatives to receive information on how you can participate in your local governing process.

If B: We're all very impressed that you consider your interest in-"

At this point a blank space had been left open, which Whistler had filled in. In her crude handwriting was inscribed the words "Boring Fish Garbage", and then the message continued.

"-is just as important as me bringing about world peace, the lowest crime rates in two decades, and massive socioeconomic improvement. Rest assured that if you have enough determination to bother the Avatar in his home, you have enough determination to fix your problems yourself. Please proceed to do so.

Get off my back,

Avatar Sen"

Whistler stopped watching out the window when she saw that the bothersome man had reached the last line. The face they made as they read it was always priceless. Whistler chuckled to herself and returned to the couch.

"There you go, boys," She said as she slammed back down onto the couch. Ariak and Hanjo nodded.

"There we go," Ariak said. "Now I get it next time, like we agreed upon."

Whistler had conspicuously lost track of when it was her turn to receive Sen's bothersome guests. Ariak and Hanjo had been on hand to "gently" remind her.

"Yeah yeah," Whistler grunted. "What'd I miss?"

"Turtleducks scored," Hanjo said blankly. They had no real stake in the game they were watching, but it was on and they were bored. Housesitting had gotten boring after the first few days. Trying to break into Sen's bedroom had been an amusing endeavor for a while, but even Whistler had given up on that. The Avatar's chambers were built like a fortress.

"We got enough of the insult papers left out there?" Ariak said. He did not exactly approve of the harsh language they used, but understood why Sen used them. In the months since his victory, he had burned through most of life's actual problems and had since been harassed by people wanting the Avatar to address their meaningless complaints.

Rather than face the stream of inane whining, Sen had elected to take a vacation. There had been little debate that he deserved one after everything he had done for the world. Ariak, Hanjo, and Whistler had elected to take care of "business" in his absence, while Suda tended to his new family and Ada to her new school, respectively.

"We got plenty," Whistler assured him. "Enough to spare for sure. Think I might make paper airplanes out of some of 'em, just chuck them at the next person to bother us."

"You are bored out of your mind, aren't you?"

"Why yes, yes I am," Whistler grunted. She hopped up, away from the televarrick, and tried to find Sen's phone -and then Sen's phone book. He had quite a large collection of phone numbers, but those of his closest friends were at the forefront, easy to find.

"If you order food we're not paying for it," Ariak cautioned her. Whistler lived without much in the way of possessions -mostly money. Whistler shook her head.

"I'm getting entertainment, not food," She shouted back. She had spent a few days stuck in a house with these two now. While she would begrudgingly admit that the first few days had been a little bit entertaining, the novelty had worn off. Their trio needed new blood. She found the number she was looking for and dialed it.

Hanjo came into the room, deeply suspicious of whatever Whistler was doing. He checked the phone book expecting to see the number of someone who might entangle them in some kind of violence or debauchery. The book was, however, only open to the front page. It was easy to figure out what Whistler wanted.

"Don't bother Miyani, she said she'd be busy," Hanjo said.

"Busy messing around with her plastic bricks," Whistler said. Hanjo was about to interject that Miyani was technically in charge of a company, but Whistler never let him get a word in edgewise. "I'm going to convince her to come, and it's going to be great because she's great."

"Ariak, back me up," Hanjo said.

"I'm all for it, actually. If she can talk Miyani into joining us, that is," Ariak said. She'd be a welcome addition to the group. Unlike Suda's family or Ada's school, Miyani's role in her company was small enough that she could take a few days off.

The telephone buzzed slightly as Whistler's call was finally answered. She leaned into the phone while Hanjo shrugged his shoulders.

"Yes, hello mister secretary person," She said idly. "This is Whistler, I want to talk-"

She paused and stared forward awkwardly.

"Yes, that Whistler. How many Whistler's does your boss know?" She paused again. "Yeah, that's what I thought. Let me talk to your boss."

There was yet another moment of pause as the other end of the line spoke. Hanjo watched as Whistler's face bounced between boredom, aggravation, and concern.

"Well where is she? She said she'd be working there."

The final bounce in Whistler's expression was to a look of dawning realization.

"Oh," She said quietly. Followed by a much louder, more drawn out "Oooh".

Whistler hung up the phone without so much as a goodbye and looked towards Hanjo, her eyebrows raised.

"She's on vacation," Whistler said with a wicked smile.

"Okay, well all that means is-"

The realization that Whistler had made appeared to be contagious.

"Oh."

"It's about time!" Ariak shouted from the living room.

Clothes laid strewn across the beach haphazardly. They'd been shed without a care in the world. They were far enough away from civilization that they didn't need to worry about prying eyes. Sen had made sure to choose an isolated location well in advance. What he intended to do here was a bit...shameful.

"You suck at treading water," Miyani said. She was sitting on an ocean rock, watching Sen meander in the ocean.

"That's what we're here for," Sen said with a sigh. He shook some seawater out of his eyes and repeated the steps Miyani had taught him.

After long years and many distractions, Sen had finally resolved to finish learning how to swim. It only seemed appropriate to ask Miyani, the one who'd given him his first lessons, to give him his last. Or at least that was what he'd told her. Neither of them really believed it.

"Remember to spin your legs in opposing directions," Miyani said, wiggling her finger in circles to emphasize her point.

"I know-" Sen began to protest but was interrupted as he sank beneath the waves for a moment. "-that. I just keep -sinking."

"Almost like there's something weighing you down," Miyani suggested playfully. She leaned forward. "Anything you need to get off your chest, Sen?"

Her prodding question prompted Sen to sink slightly beneath the waves, just enough that his mouth was covered by the waterline. Miyani leaned back and crossed her arms across her chest. She was debating whether it would be more to finally get it over with, or to keep teasing Sen.

She was no longer entirely sure who exactly was toying with who. Did Sen just want her to crack first, or was Sen enjoying the playful back and forth as much as she was? The Avatar had gotten in his far share of flirtatious jabs, despite his bashful response to this one. His darting eyes showed he was working on a proper response.

After a moment of consideration, Sen finally pulled his head fully above the waves. He appeared to open his mouth to speak for a moment, but quickly turned his head downwards.

"There is something on my-" He hesitated slightly and looked at the water. Miyani's whimsical curiosity turned to concern when the first clawed tendril popped out of the water.

With a loud yelp of surprise and an unconscious burst of waterbending, Sen catapulted himself to shore. Miyani felt a rush of air and a splash of saltwater as Sen rocketed past, abandoning the water to seek shelter on land. Before she'd even had time to run around and jump into the water she heard Sen slam into the sandy beach and begin grunting in conflict with whatever had latched onto his chest.

Such was Sen's panicked speed that by the time Miyani had swum back to the beach to join him, he'd already had time to assess his situation and calm down. Miyani stepped onto the sandy beach to find Sen taking deep breaths, struggling to free himself of the ocean beast that had latched onto his chest.

"Huh," She said, observing the armored creature. "It's just a little Crabtopus."

Given Sen's reaction, she would have thought it to be much larger. She supposed that the combination of tentacles and pinching claws would be enough to catch anyone off guard.

"I haven't been snuck up on in a while," Sen said defensively. He poked the tentacled beast still clinging to his chest. In the ocean waves, the extrasensory abilities that allowed him a limited omniscience didn't function well -or at all. It had been years since anything had gotten the drop on him, but the crabtopus had managed.

Miyani stepped up and grabbed at the tentacled beast, pulling on it with all her might. Sen was lifted slightly off the ground, but the crabtopus went nowhere. Sen's skin stretched out as Miyani pulled and he pleaded with Miyani to stop.

"Stop, stop, you can't brute force it," he said. "You've got to be gentle. Haven't you ever solved one of those Earth Kingdom finger traps?"

"Yeah, I played with one once while I was wandering around," Miyani said. The woven finger trap had been a way to occupy herself while wandering the woodlands of the UEK. "I don't think that's how we deal with this, though."

"What? You have to be gentle," Sen said. "You solved the trap by pushing your fingers together, not pulling apart, right?"

The sound of ocean waves lapping against the beach filled the air as Miyani stared blankly forward. For a moment Sen ignored the pincers digging into his skin and stared at her.

"How did you get out of the finger trap?"

"Let's get that thing off of you," Miyani said evasively. She struggled with the crabtopus in futility for a bit while Sen stared at her.

"Miyani," Sen said firmly. "Did you blow up the finger trap?"

Miyani let out a deep sigh.

"I blew up the finger trap," She admitted. "And before you say anything I had to do a lot of practicing to make an explosion that small, so it was still really challenging."

"It's not supposed to be challenging," Sen protested. "It's one of the simplest puzzles in existence!"

"Okay, here's a puzzler for you," Miyani snipped. "Who knows how to get the creepy crabtopus off of you, and who isn't going to do it while she's getting sassed?"

Sen was silent. Miyani nodded confidently and returned her focus to the matter at hand.

"Hold still," Miyani cautioned. She had a better angle on the ocean beast. Sen held his breath while Miyani drew her fist back and slammed it down on the crabtopus' globular head. The force of the blow was enough to rattle its brains and loosen its tentacular grip on the Avatar's chest. Sen could feel the shockwave of the punch through his ribs as the suction cups released as one.

Miyani picked up the stunned creature and tossed it into the ocean. Sen gingerly examined the marks on his chest where the tentacles had latched on to him.

"Is that thing going to be okay?"

"Meh, it's just a crabtopus," Miyani said with a shrug. "Who even cares?"

Sen stood up to retrieve his clothes from where they had been thrown earlier. He was glad to put his shirt back on and cover up the unsightly suction marks on his chest. He made amends for his earlier jabs at Miyani by tossing her her clothing as well. He looked on with some small regret as her bathing suit was covered by the sundress.

With a heavy sigh and a sandy thump, Sen laid down on the beach and looked up at the blue sky. There were many clouds above and one passed in front of the sun, briefly casting the beach in shadow. Despite the brief spot of darkness, it was still a pleasant day. Sen had chosen this location, a former White Lotus outpost, for it's climate as much as its location. It was warm, sunny, there were decent beds in the old outpost, and most importantly of all, it was isolated.

The only other human being for miles, Miyani, sat down alongside Sen at the beach. Sen watched the pincer and suction cup marks fade from his chest.

"So," He said.

"Yep."

"You're going to blackmail me with this story, aren't you?"

"Not right away," Miyani said with a smirk. "I'll be filing it away for the future, though."

"I'll be sure to tread lightly."

"Your subservience can start by cleaning me off," Miyani said. She ran a finger through wet strands of black hair. With a lazy flick of his wrist, lingering droplets of seawater and clinging grains of sand flew off both of their skin and outfits. In an instant the two were as dry and clean as if they'd never entered the ocean in the first place. The dry, thin sand here did not stick well to dry skin, so they would remain mostly undisturbed by any further sandy messes.

"Done swimming for the day?" Sen asked.

"Well I doubt you're going back, and it's not much fun going it alone."

Sen nodded and nestled into the sand around him.

"I'm sticking to solid ground from now on," He said. "I'm an Earth Avatar, I belong on earth. No flying, no swimming, just...solid ground beneath my feet."

He had never felt fully comfortable in the sky or in the water. That was only natural, Sen supposed. With a quick nod of agreement, Miyani shifted in the sand and laid down next to him. The two glanced at one another briefly before turning their eyes skyward.

"So...Are we cutting the vacation short, then?"

"Why would we do that?" Sen asked.

"Well, we did come here to teach you to swim," Miyani said. There was a note of mischief in her voice that Sen well recognized. "If you're not going to learn, we might as well leave. It's not like you had any other plans here, right?"

Miyani turned onto her side, resting her head in one hand and poking Sen in the shoulder with the other. Sen tried to pretend he was unimpressed by her prodding questions. In reality, his heart was pounding so fast he was surprised the sand around him wasn't shaking too. To say he was nervous was a bit of an understatement.

"I may have had something else in mind," Sen said. Miyani was not impressed by his obtuseness.

"Please, elaborate," She requested. Sen turned his head to look at her. She was still perched expectantly, waiting to get the answer she wanted.

"I have the feeling you already know."

In this case, it was only a feeling. Miyani had always been hard for him to read. Her very nature obfuscated things like her heartbeat and chi, aspects Sen could use to get a good read on most anyone else. Miyani was one of few people in the world capable of truly surprising him.

"Oh believe me, I'm clueless," Miyani said. "Say it."

"Miyani..."

Demonstrating her capacity to surprise him, Miyani moved suddenly. She turned further, leaning over Sen, not quite laying on top of him, but holding herself above his face. She no longer wore her hair tied back as she had done months ago, and loose strands of black hair fell downwards, framing Sen's vision until all he could see was Miyani staring down at him. The massive red eye on her forehead gazed down blankly, while two eyes of amber yellow had far more focus.

For a moment the focus in her eyes broke, and they seemed aimless as she turned away from him. Miyani quickly regained her determination and looked down at Sen. Despite her renewed focus, the sight of that aimlessness, of being lost, that Sen had seen in her eyes lingered with him. Oddly enough, it calmed him. His heartbeat slowed and his nerves steadied.

It was all too easy for him to idealize Miyani. Sen looked at her and focused on her best aspects -her strength and wit, her determination and compassion. He often did not realize someone so incredible had her moments of frailty, doubt, and loneliness. It was hard to believe someone so perfect had the same fears as he did.

"Sen," She said. Her voice was hesitant, nervous, but still firm. "There was a time in my life, I thought no one would even see me as a person, much less..."

She averted her eyes again, but not out of doubt. An awkward smile crossed her face. Still half pinned beneath her, Sen had managed to reach up and grab her waist in one hand. The other went towards her head, brushing an errant strand of hair out of her face. Miyani saw the redness in Sen's cheeks and took comfort in the fact that he was just as nervous as she was.

"I want to hear you say it," She pleaded quietly. Sen had to bite his tongue and take a deep breath. Miyani's face tilted just slightly more towards his as he gathered his courage. His fingertips trembled slightly as he brushed them against Miyani's cheek.

"Miyani," Sen began. Just saying her name was all it took to cast aside his doubts and shaken nerves. He continued, now speaking with an unshakable certainty. Suddenly Sen wondered what he had ever been worried about. It was so easy to say something that he felt with all his heart and soul.

"I love you."

He saw a smile part Miyani's lips just before they pushed forward to meet his.

Their noses bumped together briefly before they managed to rearrange and kiss properly -almost. Neither had any clue what they were doing. Any observer would have said it was an awkward, awful kiss. Thankfully, no one was observing. Their opinion wouldn't have mattered anyway. To the two love-struck souls on the beach it was nothing short of perfect.

Pulling away from her partner with a contented sigh, Miyani rolled to the side, letting Sen see something other than her face hanging above him. He immediately turned to his side and looked at Miyani's face again. She looked right back, with a sparkle in her eyes to put the brightest stars to shame. She bashfully looked away and turned her eyes skyward, towards the blue sky.

After a long and contently quiet delay, Miyani turned to look Sen in the eyes. She seemed happier than Sen had ever seen her, as if everything was right in the world.

"What happens next?" She asked quietly.

Sen stared forward longingly. Miyani watched him closely. After a few minutes he started to smile knowingly.

"You have no idea," Miyani said with a chuckle.

"I'm thinking," Sen said playfully. Miyani smiled broadly. She reached out and grabbed Sen, pulling him close to her chest. Scarred arms clung tightly to him as they wrapped into a familiar embrace.

"We'll figure something out."

And that's that! As a special bonus, I wrote up a design document that features a lot of information on my writing process and how I came up with the characters and story that I did. It's mostly a bit of trivia and tidbits about my thought processes, so don't expect a riveting narrative. If you're interested in a lot of raw information, you can find it at this link: www).(pastebin).(com/xK5DkC5B

On a personal note, my post-story break is well wrapped up and I'm off to work on my next project. I'd actually hoped to be launching it soon, but life has been rough lately and I'm making less progress than I'd like. I'm aiming for a mid-year launch, but I make no promises. As for the content, it's an original work -not fanfiction- and I certainly hope you aren't sick of superheroes, because that's what I've decided to write about. It'll be launching on FictionPress (unless I find a better hosting site) sometime this year.

Thanks once again for reading, and I'll see you soon in another adventure!