"I don't know why you aren't more excited about this."
"Because she's only going because I badgered her into it. She's going to be grouchy and irritable the entire time and I didn't actually want her to come if she didn't want to come," Kya said as she tried to fit everything she would need for three days into one bag.
"She wouldn't be going if she didn't want to go," Bumi argued, pushing her away so that he could attempt to shove her things into the bag.
Sighing, Kya flopped onto the bed causing her suitcase to almost fall off of it. Bumi moved the suitcase to the floor and sat down beside her.
"She's going because she feels pressured. I was relentless, honestly," Kya said, "I'd hate me if I were her."
"Well then, it's a darn good thing you aren't her. You're you. And you're persistent, that's for sure. But she knows that and if it's bothered her in the past, she wouldn't even be talking to you now. Because she's her," he said, trying to convince his sister that she hadn't made a mistake in asking Lin to go with her to Ba Sing Se.
"Besides, it doesn't mean what you think it means, Bumi."
"Have you asked her that?" Bumi said, skeptically side eyeing her.
"No. But I don't have to," Kya argued, pushing herself up off the bed so that she could finish packing.
"Oh yeah, I forgot, not only are you a waterbender, but you can read minds, too," Bumi retorted sarcastically.
"Shut up," his sister mumbled, turning her back on him to pull some more clothes out of her drawer, "As if you actually know what you're talking about. When was the last time you even spoke to a woman you weren't related to?"
"Yesterday. I talked to Lin."
"You did what now?" Kya snapped, flipping back around to face him.
"Don't worry, I didn't tell her anything she didn't already know," he assured her.
"And what exactly is it that you think she already knows?"
"That you've been in love with her since you were twenty-four."
"BUMI!" Kya screamed in shock, throwing the small pile of clothes she had been holding at him.
"Relax, I'm kidding," he chuckled, picking up the shirt that landed on his lap and throwing it into a second bag, "I just asked her if she was excited for your trip. She said it was a hassle and that she couldn't believe you'd talked her into this. Which I think is Lin speak for 'Why, of course, Bumi. There is nothing more in the entire world I would rather spend my time doing than accompanying your fantastic sister on a fantastic trip to a fantastic city.' Or something like that."
"Great," Kya sighed again. She wasn't sure why she ever thought talking to her brother was a good idea.
Lin had agreed to meet Kya on the docks at seven. It was now seven thirty and Kya was nowhere to be found. Typical.
Grumbling about lazy waterbenders, Lin pulled her suitcase over to a bench, deciding that if Kya didn't show up in ten minutes she would go back home. Okay, fifteen minutes. Or twenty if the fifteen went by quickly.
Finally, she saw Kya rushing down the pavilion stairs.
"I'm so sorry, Lin," Kya profusely apologized, "I overslept and no one bothered to wake me up because they apparently just thought that I had left already. You're not angry with me, are you?"
Kya gave her best apologetic look and clasped her hand in front of her.
"I suppose it can be forgiven," Lin muttered, picking up Kya's duffel bag and throwing it over her shoulder. Looking around, she added, "How exactly are we traveling, anyway?"
"Um… about that," Kya said, motioning towards the air bison stables.
Great, Lin thought, this trip was only getting better and better. Kya was lucky she was… well, whatever she was.