Darkness blanketed the house in a beautiful blue, a yellow glow coming from the inside. Five young fire nation children sleep peacefully in their beds, the sixth and youngest cuddles up to his mother's chest as Her husband paces.
"Hun, you'll wake the children" She whispers softly cradling the small boy's head, her husband stops letting a deep sigh leave his lips as he rubs his forehead,
"I'm sorry Amayo, they called so late after such a long time," The man's wife brings her hand to his face in a familiar and calming gesture.
"I know love, but you can't get too worked up, you're not a young man anymore." she teases him, in return he pulls her in to kiss her cheek.
The front door opens and a Fire Sage as well as one of the Order of the White Lotus walk through the door,
"Thank you for seeing us on such short notice," The Fire sage thanks the couple as he and the man next to him bow to the couple.
"Of course, but can you tell us what this is about?" The husband asks after bowing back before ushering the two men farther into the house, after a minute they reach the family room the pairs sitting across from each other.
"I apologize, usually we'd have tea made but because it's so late…" The Fire Sage raises his hand to stop the woman's apology.
"There is no need, it is entirely our fault but this couldn't wait. As you know, we've been testing your daughter for a few years now, after all she was born only hours after the death of Avatar Genji." The couple nod almost in unison, they remembered the day Ikumi was born, it had been challenging almost as if she was waiting for something, they heard of the late avatar's death only after the girl was born.
"Unfortunately we have ruled Ikari out of speculation." The man in the Order robe continues, The couple look at each other before the husband speaks up.
"This has to be a mistake, you were so sure!" he stands suddenly and his wife places her hand on his arm.
"Zoa, the children." She whispers to him and he sits back down with a sigh, he laces his fingers together and presses the heel of his hands on his forehead, the baby in his wife's arms fusses a little as she readjusts him.
"I don't understand, the questions, the dates, everything lines up where is this coming from?" He speaks to the men in front of him while looking at the ground beneath his feet.
"A few things made this decision very clear, the first being she hasn't bonded to any animal." This explanation causes the wife to shake her head,
"Well, she still has time, children don't always bond to animals right away she's just so afraid-" she's cut off by the Fire Sage when he clears his throat
"Secondly, Ikari is eight years old and hasn't begun to firebend. You know as well as both of us that children don't usually start bending at such a late age." The couple exchange glances before the husband speaks again.
"This must be some sort of mistake, if you could give her a little more time I'm sure she'll start bending soon enough." the Fire Sage shakes his head a deep sigh escaping from him,
"I'm afraid we can't wait any longer, there are a surprising number of candidates that have yet to be examined, we must move on." The two men stand and bow signaling the conversation is over. This time it's the wife who stands quickly,
"You can't do this! You've been keeping us on edge for years, what do you plan to do when she does start bending?" the woman demands, her husband in turn takes the sturred child from her arms,
"Ama, it's late, remember" The man's wife lets out a huff, stepping closer to the officials in front of her.
"No Zoa! I want to know how you plan to come crawling back when Ikari starts fire bending." The woman's husband bows to the other two men.
"Thank you for letting us know as soon as possible, have a safe trip back." He sees the two men out before coming back to his still seething wife,
"Ama calm down." He whispers softly to her offering a one armed hug, in return she pushes him away starting to pace herself.
"This is a mistake, we'll work harder, we'll push her harder! That's the problem, we've been coddling her Zoa." The man sighs stopping his wife and taking her hand in his,
"Light of my life, I'm afraid it might be too late for that. You must accept things as they are dearest." she shakes him off again.
"No, we can't give up, I know she can do this I know-" the woman is cut off when a floorboard creaks behind her, the couple turn to see their oldest son rubbing one of his eyes.
"Mother? Are you and Father fighting?" the boy asks softly, The woman's face softens and she goes to her child crouching down to cup his cheeks.
"Oh love no of course not did we wake you?" She forces a smile onto her face and the boy nods slightly, exhaustion evident on his face.
"Alright I'll help you back to bed, yes?" The boy turns around and is guided back to bed by his mother. The husband sighs looking down at his now wide awake youngest child, before shaking his head and walking the toddler to his own room.
Six years later
Dinner is not Ikari's favorite time of day, sitting between her siblings. Russian nesting doll children from tallest to shortest on each side, her parents at opposite ends of the table, Fire nation nobles have been aspiring for decades to achieve what the heads of her family have. Complete perfection and symmetry, the oldest son and third Zoe in the family named after his father and grandfather sat at the right hand of the head of house. Gold eyes cast down at his food, dark hair slicked back into a tight top knot as usual. Next to him was the oldest daughter in the family, Lai is a fire bending prodigy constantly training, and perfecting her abilities. Gold trophies and first place ribbons lined her bedroom walls, their mother often mentioned the spark of determination in her honey brown eyes. Ikari had never seen Lai lose, or even have a hair out of place from her high ponytail.
The rest of the children followed a similar pattern of perfection, even the rambunctious nature of an eight year old fire bender witch the youngest child at the table possessed was quelled while dinner was eaten, and school was in session. How did the family keep up such perfect appearances? It was the ballanced mixture between her mother, a fire nation woman born into nobility said to have descended from one of the avatars but never confirmed, and her father, a woman's name may have been passed down to him but he made up for it with his military background. Between a second generation general and a notable noble, even a toe out of line was made clear to be unacceptable from a young age. Every perfect being has a fault, a chink in the armor, for this family it was Ikari. A house filled with fire nation children and two parents with spotless reputations and prestigious places in society, Ikari was the only one who couldn't bend, something she would not soon forget.
"So Zoa," Ikari's mother calls, both her father and brother look up to show their attention. Her father is waved off as full attention is on Zoa the third.
"You graduated from the fire nation academy at the top of your class, so we have some good news for you and the rest of the family." Ikari's ears perked up and she looked at her mother. Stress makes her a usually expressionless and quite frankly grim woman, but at this moment she had a large smile on her face. Instead of continuing, Her husband clears his throat from across the table.
"The Royal Fire Nation Family has invited us to dinner at the palace this weekend, they want to congratulate both you and your sister for her most recent tournament win." The usually serious man was also smiling at his military bound oldest daughter who was still icing her bruises from an opponent three days prior.
"Apologies father," Zoa cuts in sitting straight as to show no disrespect, he sets down his eating utensils completely, folding his hands in front of him and setting them in his lap.
"Many gifted people have gone to the same school, and Lai, no offense, wins the same tournament and a hundred other trophies every year. Why does it matter now?" Ikari understood where her brother was coming from, and the same question swam around her mind as well.
"Ah well, it was going to be a surprise but," Ikari's father looked surprised, one of his children decided to question one of his decisions.
"We know Zoa is very happy with Hursa, and I know your mother is hoping for a proposal soon." Ikari's oldest brother blushes slightly looking down into his food once again causing their mother to chuckle softly before her husband continues.
"As it turns out… the Fire lord has a son two years younger than Zoa and he thought it might be a good idea to introduce him and Lai.'' The room goes quiet when Lai drops her utensil and it clatters on her plate loudly. It was a spicy dish, although Ikari didn't care for spice she would never complain about the food placed in front of her. Beans and rice marinated in a chili and sugar sauce stirred together with Komodo chicken and served with a roll on the side.
"Mother, I would rather spend my time studying and training so I can also graduate top of my class much like Zoa." Lai picks up her things once again poking at her food,
"We only wish for you to meet the young prince, don't worry too much about your grades." Those words had never been uttered before by the matriarch of their house before and most likely never would be again.
Lai looked pale for the rest of the night, and when Ikari found herself unable to sleep Lai was the one she found after sneaking out into the backyard. There was no light, but Ikari could tell what her sister was doing from the soft grunts and the sound of fists hitting something large. Lai often trained or worked out when she was happy, or had any sort of extra energy; it was rare for her to use her punching bag at night, especially without using her bending.
"Lai?" Ikari calls out to the shadow she assumes is her sister, the shadow stops the punching bag, pausing for a minute.
"Kar?" a familiar voice calls walking into the moonlight, Lai was built like a mountain, second tallest of all the children and ripped from years of honing her body and skills perfectly. Ikari was jealous of how strong her older sister was sometimes, she felt weak next to her, being born into a rich nobility made her soft and she knew it.
"What are you doing here?" Lai asks while crossing her arms, it was truly amazing how little warmth there was in a family filled with fire benders.
"I couldn't sleep, what… are you doing?" Ikari didn't see her sister up past nine often let alone hours later exercising, although being perfect students and children were exhausting on their own when you add on intense physical exercise most of them were in bed by eight.
"Go back to bed little girl, this doesn't concern you." Ikari is genuinely taken aback by this response, it was so unfamiliar especially for family.
"Ok so that was rude, you're only four years older than me, who do you think you are? The fire lord? Shall I fetch your petticoats? I'm sorry for being concerned." Ikari turns on her heel to go back into the house, only stopping when she hears chuckling behind her.
"I think that might be the only time… I've seen you have any sort of attitude, it's cute" Lai laughs and Ikari turns back around trying not to be offended. Lai wasn't belittling her age but her size. As the only non bender with a hundred different body guards and older siblings up the wazoo, she didn't have to spend much of her time focusing on working out or training her body. As a result she wasn't as… robust as her older brothers and sisters.
"Yeah well, I get mean when I'm tired." she sticks her tongue out blowing a raspberry and slowly raising an extended middle finger to Lai, before turning around again.
"Kar wait," Lai calls out through another huffy laugh, when Ikari looks to see her again, Lai is waving her back over.
"Why can't you sleep then kid?" Lai sits underneath the tree her punching bag is hanging from and Ikari sits next to her,
"I don't know… something about dinner doesn't feel right." It wasn't a lie, something about the night did feel uncomfortable but that was relatively normal, in truth Ikari had been having weird dreams, usually on mountains with clogged streams. What disturbed her was the man hiding around corners watching her in these dreams. He was old and bald, he had a long white beard, dark skin, six arms, and smelled like pickles. He would watch Ikari closely as she walked around the pools of water. When she tried to touch the water, he would run out screaming nonsense until she woke up, it was truly unsettling but not something you would tell an acquaintance you happen to be blood related to.
"You're telling me…" Lai sighs putting her face in her hands for a moment, Ikari had never seen Lai nervous before, it was an enlightening experience.
"What about you? This is… different." Ikari looks over to the still swaying bag hanging from the tree.
"Oh, yeah erm…" Lai hesitates debating something in her head for a few minutes, even in the darkness Ikari can see the way her brows furrow.
"They just sprung it on me incredibly quickly that's all, possibly being part of the Royal family is a little nerve wracking you know?" Ikari nods, although she doesn't know. They just sat after that, letting the calm silence wash over them.
"You should go to bed," Lai says after a minute not moving any other part of her body, almost as if she spoke telepathically,
"So should you." Ikari speaks out loud and her sister looks over to her, as the wind blows the smell of nature fills the air it's hypnotic.
"Should What?" Lai says out loud this time and Ikari furrows her brows, confused by the question.
"You just said I should go to bed, so I said, so should you." The confusion didn't subside when Lai shook her head.
"I didn't say anything, I was thinking about school honestly." Ikari was now convinced she should go to bed, she could have sworn someone had just spoken to her.
"Oh… we both should actually go to bed though." She decides to let it go for now, Lai chuckles again standing as well.
"Little sister telling me what to do now?" Ikari shakes her head, turning around and crossing her arms.
"Fine, but when you mess up your sleep schedule and are too tired to train and lose your next tournament don't come crying to me!" Ikari starts walking back into the house. Lai sits for a moment with pursed lips before getting up and following after her.
Spicy Komodo Chicken, beans and rice.
1 Tbsp canola Oil
2 cups chopped onion
2 Tbsp grated ginger
2 Tsp salt
6 cloves minced garlic
2 Tbsp chile powder
2 Chopped spicy peppers (or 6 Tbsp of hot sauce)
2 Tsp ground cumin
2 Tbsp brown sugar
2 Tbsp Lemon Juice
4 Large Tomatoes
6 Cups black beans
2 Tsp dill
Pepper
2 Cups diced carrots
4 Tbsp yellow or brown Mustard
2 ½ cups rice
4 chicken breasts cut in half.