Annual
Tian Mi didn't need to see a calendar to know it was almost time. She looked forward to this week all year. This had always been her favorite time, ever since she was a little girl. She would become increasingly wound up like one of the Mechanist's clockwork gizmos. Tian Mi was never this excited about anything, not even her own birthday.
She loved the festive decorations and how entertainers came from all over the world. And she loved how she always got the best views and seats to each event as the Avatar's daughter. And she most definitely love how she got to see all of her family and friends that didn't live in the Southern Watertribe like Auntie Toph and Uncle Zuzu (who were really her godparents).
But the one thing she didn't like was how strangers felt the need to poke and prod her like she was some strange animal. "You're the world's last hope for your race!" they would gush. They told her how she should spend her existence ensuring the growth of the Airbender population and keeping the hope alive and yaddah yaddah yaddah. It was really quite bothersome when she was trying to enjoy herself and people kept implying that she should reproduce the moment she got married. As if! But the public followed each and every one of her relationships, hoping that she would choose a husband. And it was always really bad during this time of year for whatever reason. Perhaps it's because it was this time of year many years ago that her parents decided to hook up. Whatever the reason, it bothered her to no end. At least she had the pleasure of getting under her peer's skin.
As a fact, Tian Mi had already had someone in mind. They had been going steady for a few years now and it drove the public crazy that a marriage hadn't taken place. But it's not like she got many chances to see her beau anyway.
For her newest favorite reason that this was her favorite time was that she and her beau got the chance to see each other. Not that her beau could actually see.
"Tian Mi!" Speak of the devil… "We're going to be late for the Freedom Festival if you keep zoning out," Ling Jin said, entering the room. Tian Mi turned and smiled at her boyfriend, although the milky film over both eyes testified to the fact that he couldn't see it.
"Sorry, Ling Ling," she cooed taking his hand. He smirked at her, a trait he somehow picked up from his adopted mother (a.k.a. Tian Mi's godmother).
"I'll never understand what goes on in that pretty head of yours."
"As if you could know how I look. How do you know that I'm not absolutely hideous?" Ling Jin shrugged.
"I go by descriptions. That and I've had to defend you from enough fan boys."
"And by 'defend' you mean 'beat the stuffing out of'."
"Whichever you prefer." To that Tian Mi laughed.
"Come on then, since I've obviously kept you from your fun." Her boyfriend rolled his unseeing eyes as he pulled her out the door to the annual Freedom Festival (and Tian Mi's favorite time of the year).
Meh, I didn't really like this one, but I wanted to do at least one with Tian Mi being older and not a wee child.
A note on Ling Jin: He is the adopted son of Toph (if you didn't catch that). She found him trying to survive on the streets of Ba Sing Se when he was about five years old and was impressed by his strong spirit, which was much like her own. She took him under her wing, pleased to discover that he was an earthbender. He is about 2 years older than Tian Mi and every bit as snarky, sarcastic, and tough as his mother.