I will be as quick as possible with this. First, this is actually two parts. I just didnt want to put it all together since it would be a lot longer. So, you get the first part now, and the next maybe tomorrow.
Both parts together would be called Penguins and Panic Attacks, but since this is just the first part, guess which part you get? Just do it. It's not penguins. Happy reading.
"Wahoo!" A boy, with arms raised in freedom from the prison that his grandfather's house became during a snowstorm, yelled as he ran through the thick white snow, quickly disappearing from view of the hut.
"Bumi, be careful!" his mother called after him from the doorway.
"Oh, come on Katara. He'll be fine," her husband reassured her, laughing at his son.
"Just make sure they all stay warm."
"Everyone will be fine. How dangerous can penguin sledding be?"
"Bumi will find a way to make it dangerous."
"Right," Aang's eyes widened, "In that case, I should probably catch up with him before he gets there. Are you sure you don't want to come? There are plenty of penguins."
"I was going to stay with dad today, but please don't bring the kids back until they are worn out. I don't think I can handle it anymore if Bumi keeps running around yelling."
"Got it. Did you see where Kya went though?"
Katara let out a sigh and shook her head, "She had a good head start on Bumi. Just hurry up and make sure they don't get into any trouble."
"Do I have to go?" a small voice came from beside the Avatar. Tenzin looked like he rather be anywhere except in the snow. He was already covered in several layers of clothes and a parka because of Katara worrying about him and his siblings, who were in just as many layers, freezing to death. Aang was lucky to escape with just a cloak a little thicker than the one he usually wore. He insisted the cold didn't bother him, and Katara had barely accepted it.
Katara crouched down in front of her son and put her hands on his shoulders, pulling his hood up to cover his bald head while she was at it, "Yes. I need you to keep your father out of trouble for me."
Tenzin smiled a toothy grin, but Aang crossed his arms and gave a smug look, "See. I don't need you to look after me all the time." He reached down and picked up Tenzin, "I'm sure he'll do great." He placed the six year old on his shoulders and Tenzin grabbed onto his ears to stay balanced.
"Just go chase your penguins," Katara laughed.
"Good idea," Aang said, kissing her swiftly. His autumn colored robes swished as he turned in the ankle deep snow. "We'll be back before dinner."
"Okay," Katara smiled as she leaned against the door of the hut. "Have fun. Be careful."
Aang smiled before quickly walking in the direction his middle child had gone. Katara moved back inside and closed the door slowly, watching as he slowed for a moment to look back at the door, which looked closed from where he was, and grinned before telling Tenzin to hang on. The boy tightened his hold as the Avatar used airbending to help him run quickly through the snow. Katara just shook her head and closed the door the rest of the way.
It wasn't long before the Avatar found his son trying to sneak up on the penguins that hopped out of reach when he tried to grab them. Tenzin airbended himself slowly to the ground covered in new snow from the storm that had ended just recently. As happy he was to be let out of the house and get some space away from Bumi, he was nervous about the weather. Aang reassured him several times that everything would be fine, though, which was met with a reluctant agreement by the six year old.
"What are you doing?" Tenzin asked, his head tilted to the side as he examined his brother's attempts to snatch a penguin that was close by. It quickly moved away and Bumi turned his attention to another.
"What does it look like I'm doing?" he replied, sticking his tongue out in concentration as he nonchalantly tried to walk behind one of the penguins. It jumped out of his reach and he fell in a heap of snow. "I'm trying to catch myself a penguin."
Tenzin shook his head, "You're not doing a good job. Maybe you should have waited for dad to catch you one."
Bumi was about to make a comment, but Aang, who had been looking around the sea of penguins, spoke before Bumi could, "Where's Kya?"
Bumi just shrugged, "I dunno. I haven't seen her since she left the house."
A million horrible thoughts passed through the Avatar's mind when that was said. Attacked by a wild animal. Lost. Freezing. Starving, which was impossible since she had just eaten lunch. Fell off a glacier. Dead…No. He couldn't think like that. He wanted to freak out and glow it up right then and there, but he was very much aware of the looks his kids were giving him. He had to stay calm and not panic, for their sake, and his own. He wasn't going to let anything happen to his little girl.
He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, "We have to find your sister before we can go sledding."
"But dad," Bumi began to whine, "I'm sure she just went sledding. Why don't we just wait for her to get back if it's so important?"
"No buts," Aang said sternly, which was unusual, especially to his children, "Find Kya. Then we can go sledding."
"Wow," Bumi shook his head, mumbling loudly to himself, "So, if I say we should try to be patient, he just doesn't hear me."
"I think that's the first time you've ever said that we needed to be patient," Tenzin replied from behind his father, who was clearly not paying attention anymore.
The Avatar and his children began wandering through the sea of penguins, trying to find the girl clad in a blue and white parka. After each passing second, the Avatar's patience was slipping away. He had already called her name out several times with no response. If he had brought his glider with him, he would have been flying around, trying to spot her from the sky, but of course, that was left on Air Temple Island. The one time he didn't bring it.
Bumi and Tenzin chased the penguins around as they searched, needing something to actually do. It had been a few minutes when Tenzin spotted something in the snow and went to see what it was. He picked up the dark blue object and flicked some snow off it before calling his father and brother over. He held out the object and watched as his father's face changed from hopeful to horrified in a second.
Kya's glove. That meant she didn't have a glove on. That meant she could be freezing. Panic. There was no reason to not panic. He needed to panic! That was pretty much what went through the Avatar's mind as grabbed the glove from his son's hand and bit his lip in worry. The only thing that brought him back from his mental breakdown was Tenzin, who was tugging lightly on his father's cloak.
Can't freak out and glow it up, he reminded himself. He had two other kids that could get hurt from him freaking out and doing something stupid. No glowing.
Aang closed his eyes and tried to get the thousand voices that were screaming to help out of his head. The other Avatars were not needed for him to freak out plenty on his own.
He started with pacing back and forth as his kids watched him. He quickly wore the snow down into a trench but didn't seem interested in stopping. He called out Kya's name a few times, and began to once again think of every possible disaster that would cause his daughter to lose a glove.
"-And Katara's just going to kill me. And I think I might let her after this one. And then…ugh. Why am I such a horrible parent that I can't figure out where she is? Stupid stupid stupid," he said, hitting his forehead with his hand, stopping to turn around in his trench. If he had any hair on his head, he would have pulled it all out by now. His beard was barely short enough to escape unharmed.
Bumi and Tenzin gave each other worried looks before grabbing hold of their father's robes again and pulling so hard he had to stop. He looked down at them with tears in his eyes, but quickly wiped them away before sitting down and hugging the two boys senselessly.
Tenzin, who now had his head on his father's shoulder, was looking out at the snow. He just knew something terrible was happening and it had to do with Kya. He got that much from how much his father had been beating himself up over a missing glove and how Bumi also seemed more downcast, which was unusual for the eight year old. Bumi was trying to get his attention from Aang's other shoulder, glancing at him and poking his little brother's arm with his free hand.
Tenzin looked at his older brother, who tilted his head and motioned with his eyes. Tenzin leaned a little further and caught sight of a blue figure coming over an icy ridge, a penguin slowly following. His eye involuntarily twitched when he heard that horrible song his parents used to sing to get them to fall asleep, but he let out a sigh of relief.
"Uh, Dad?" Bumi tried, sounding slightly annoyed.
The Avatar just shook his head and buried his face deeper into his kids' sides.
"Dad, I think she's fine," Bumi tried again. His father just squeezed the two of them closer, causing Tenzin to squeak from loss of air and Bumi to begin squirming away.
Eleven year old Kya stopped singing her favorite song, Secret Tunnel, when she saw her father crushing her little brothers. Bumi was giving her a death glare, but Tenzin looked ready to pass out. She tilted her head to the side as she walked around to his front, making sure not to slip into the deep hole in the snow.
"Dad, are you alright?" she asked. Aang shook his head again, but then seemed to realize who had spoken. He opened his eyes and looked up at his curious daughter before practically forgetting about his sons, who rolled away from him as quickly as they could, Tenzin lying on his back and taking deep breaths, and Bumi wiping snow off his face and glaring at Kya some more.
"Kya, you have some explaining to do!" Bumi said.
"About what?" she tried to ask, but her father had engulfed her in a bone crushing hug that lasted a few minutes before he released her.
"Where have you been?" He asked. His eyes were red from crying and his voice worried.
"Sledding," she replied truthfully, but then caught sight of his red eyes, "Dad, are you crying?"
"Yes," he said sadly, "I thought I lost you."
She gave an apologetic smile before hugging around his neck, "I'm sorry, but I'm fine."
"Why didn't you wait?"
"Because someone can't keep up. That someone also doesn't know how to catch a penguin," she said smugly, looking at Bumi, who was about to defend himself, but was interrupted.
"Why do you only have one glove on?"
Kya looked at her gloveless hand before pointing to the one in her father's hands, "Because you have the one I'm missing." When he gave her a serious look, she continued, "Okay, one of the penguins was hurt, so I had to heal it. I guess I kind of forgot about the glove after I set it down. Are you okay?" she asked again.
Aang sighed deeply and grabbed his daughter in another bone crushing hug. He was relieved and just happy to have her back, "Are you hurt?" When she shook her head, he said, "Just promise you won't do that again."
"I will make no such promises," she replied as she patted him on the back. "How about I just tell you first next time?" He let out a noise that was somewhere between a laugh and sob. Soon though, she felt very constricted by his death grip and asked if he would please release her. He did so and smiled down at her.
"I'm sure that penguin will be as good as new now," he said with a slight laugh.
"Dad, I think something's wrong with Tenzin," Bumi snickered from his spot next to his brother. The boy had his tongue sticking out of the side of his mouth and was still breathing heavily. "I think you broke him."
"I'm not…broken," Tenzin replied, inhaling deeply, then exhaling as he continued, "Just…really don't like snow. Can we go home yet?"
Aang was about to speak, but it was Bumi's turn to interrupt, "No no no. I was promised sledding. I am not going back to sit around and listen to grandpa's jokes. They get old when he says the same ones twenty times."
The Avatar gave a sad smile, "Sorry Tenzin, but I told your mother I would make sure you three were exhausted by the time we go back." Tenzin groaned and seemed to sink into the snow some more.
Okay, so i must say, i seriously dont like writing sappy moments, but i will admit to nearly crying while i was writing, probably because i was tired and stuff. But, i cant help easing it with a little bit of humor just because i cant take it. I am seriously thinking about video taping myself while i write because my emotions are all over the place and i bet i make some funny faces. i was having a mild panic attack during this as well, just so ya know. Now, i have to read a demon book, so if you'll excuse me...I will try to post the next part tomorrow. Just wanted this up now. Ciao.