Chapter 74: Healing
"There's no way in La's hell I'm getting a job at the palace. I'm not that desperate."
Kya, who had been wandering through the eastern courtyard of the Southern palace with Karuna in her arms, overheard the conversation of two tribesmen— one a palace servant and another who had made the remark at hand.
"They pay really well," the servant tried convincing his friend.
"Because there are very few of you. But the majority recognizes that the palace is cursed by La. I hear Pakku's blood still isn't washing out."
Indeed, the idols of the Spirits still wore Pakku's blood, which refused to wash off of the floor several weeks following the incident. Pakku's constant screams also refused to abate, prompting the old sinner to be locked away behind sound-proof prison metals.
"Well… yeah…but we need to do what we must to survive," the servant pointed out.
"But La's curse will strike us and our families if we work for the royal family. You heard what happened. I was right there when I saw Chief Sokka absolutely lose it."
"By no means do we condone the royal family's actions, my friend," the servant said. "But we need to do something to feed our families. This was the only job I was able to get after months of searching. I know the unemployment rate is not as high right now, but I can't afford to quit. I'm only in it for the money, not the moral value of it or anything. I mean, look at Sokka. He could've abandoned all communication with the South altogether, but he didn't. He only cut off communication with the older royals."
He only cut off communication with the older royals. Kya swallowed painfully.
"Before I started this job, I said in my prayers that I don't condone injustice. That this is purely to feed my family," the servant added. He pulled out an amulet from his pocket, holding it up to his friend, "You see this? I carry this holy water with me all the time. Every day at the end of my shift, I pour some over myself before going home. Until now, my situation has only improved. Trust me, La will understand."
La will understand. The Southern chieftess shuddered, saying nothing as she stepped inside with her babbling youngest. If La would understand a poor man's plight behind working for people who have lost respect in the community, why would La not understand that she and Hakoda— Kanna, too— had nothing to do with what Pakku did? That this was not how they wanted the circumstances to turn out?
"The baby's been very active today," Yugoda noted, smiling upon feeling strong thumps against her hands as she smoothed her palms over the chieftess's ballooned belly. "I think we have a strong warrior in the works."
"Of course," Sokka puffed up his chest in pride, his hand intertwined with his wife's, "She's gonna be the best warrior in the world."
"Or he," Yue pointed out.
"Well you'll find out very soon," Yugoda chuckled, not failing to notice ounces of nervousness shooting through the chieftain's gaze. Despite his intact amusement, his hand softly squeezed his wife's, refusing to let go. It was no surprise; Yugoda's repeated assurances that this was the smoothest of pregnancies she had ever witnessed certainly made the young chief brim with relief every now and then, and yet, every little thing seemed to jerk his being these days. He was a walking bundle of excitement and fear, love and hope, his anxiety spurred by the haunting images the South had left him with. Several times, Yugoda had attempted to talk him through his fears, but he strongly believed that holding their baby in his arms would relieve him of his woes. Until then, reassurances will have to do.
"Well, as usual, mom and baby are very healthy," Yugoda smiled. "No complications. There's nothing to be anxious about."
He let out the breath he'd been holding for a long time, flashing a grin at Yue.
"And…it seems to me that…" Bringing Yue's robes back down to cover her stomach, "You're having a panikuluk." Baby daughter.
"YEEEESSSSS! WOOO!"
Yue laughed at her husband's excitement as he placed a giddy kiss on her stomach before proceeding to swarm her face with kisses, prompting an amused Yugoda to leave them to their privacy.
"We can finally start shopping for the other stuff! I need the best of the best for my panikuluk!" Sokka was nearly glowing as he spoke, rambling on about luxury silks and the smoothest cotton blends for little dresses and furs and coats. Wardrobes of every palette, the softest of toys and mocassins and mittens and bibs.
"And I'm gonna build a crib myself," he boasted, "I'm gonna make sure my panikuluk is getting the best of the best of everything—"
"We're having a granddaughter!" Ahnah and Ki'ma simultaneously shrieked in excitement as they hurried inside, interrupting the moment. Ahnah pulled her daughter in for a hug as Ki'ma kissed the top of her daughter-in-law's head. Arnook and Amaruq cheered as they entered, holding the former Northern chief's twin boys, Kanut and Kajuq.
"I can't wait to meet our little dronningi!" Ivaneq jumped up and down, "Princess Yuesanga Junior!"
"You are so lucky, inniga," Amaruq clapped his son on the back, "I'd wanted a daughter, too, but I'm finally having a granddaughter!"
"She's the first girl in our family after me," Katara rushed in along with her husband, pulling Yue into a hug, "I'm spoiling her rotten no matter what anyone says."
"We don't know what type of bender she'll be," Aang smiled, "But if she's an airbender, Uncle Aang is here to teach her everything!"
As everyone raved on in their excitement, Sokka couldn't help planting a kiss on the young chieftess's lips, nuzzling her nose with his. "I love you."
"I love you, too."
"Kya?"
The Southern chieftess stepped out of her thoughts, looking away from the scrolls seated in front of her. Her husband approached her, holding in his eyes a spark of hope that was quite rare for him these days. "Amaruq's here."
Within minutes, Kya and Hakoda, joined by Kanna — who rarely spoke nowadays— welcomed Amaruq and Ki'ma, who had brought with them abundant gifts for Kohana and Karuna sent by the generous chief and chieftess of the North. Kohana was quick to run off to his friends and show them all that he had received whereas Karuna settled comfortably into the tiny fur robe that was presented to him. Needless to say that the young princes were the only royals pampered by the Northern leaders.
"Their ukuaq and angajuk settled for nothing less than the best," Ki'ma smiled as she held her infant nephew in her lap, presenting him with another gift — a warm fur cap, which she carefully inched over his head.
"Chieftess Yue is very compassionate," Kya said, her eyes glazed as she observed the plethora of gifts that the servants had retrieved from Ki'ma and Amaruq's belongings. "I did not think she would still pamper my children. Even after everything…" Swallowing a lump in her throat, "I'm surprised Sokka agreed to this, too…"
"The Spirits' anger does not strike the innocent," Amaruq said. "Especially not children."
Hakoda nodded absently before taking a deep breath, "How are they, Amaruq?"
"Better than ever."
Kanna, overcome by impatience and a degree of bitterness, said, "We hear they're expecting and planning to give out money again to celebrate the baby. For the longest time, we thought it was a rumor until we heard how he ran around the palace like a hooligan and announced to the world that he's having a girl."
The Northern chief's adoptive parents grinned widely at each other, remembering the sheer chaotic joy that reverberated through the palace walls as Sokka went boasting to his friends, servants, and ministers hours after the news. Indeed, the chief was also making arrangements to issue ten thousand gold pieces to every Water Tribe household — be it Northern, Southern, or Foggy Swamp— to celebrate the baby's birth. He was also eager to arrange grand, mouth-watering feasts throughout the Water Tribe upon the baby's birth. Amaruq and Ki'ma's shared smiles only confirmed these "rumors," sending leaps of joy through the Southern chief and chieftess. However, a bitter aftertaste remained, owing to the Southern royals' guilt, particularly Kya's.
"Leave him but bear his child. Raise it on your own."
"If he really hated interacting with us, he could have made Ivaneq send a message," Kanna turned away, trying to hide the hurt in her eyes.
"And why would he do that?" Amaruq raised his eyebrows at the older woman in annoyance, "What would you have done anyway? Congratulated them? You think he wants to hear that from you right now?"
The Southern leaders swallowed painfully.
"Well why didn't you tell us this before?" Kanna demanded, "You've been living with them. We've been hearing this 'rumor' for months! We had to learn this by word of mouth like everyone else!"
"Sokka made us swear not to tell you personally," Amaruq said.
Ki'ma, being more mindful of the sensitivity of the situation, "I mean, he knew you would find out anyway—"
"It's not just that," Amaruq added, not at all hesitating to speak his mind, "What else can you expect from a man who fears for his family's life? And I don't mean to be that kind of person right now, but you all did disown and banish him. We're the ones becoming grandparents, not you."
At which their calm deflated, tossing them back into a realm of heartbreak. Kya held back a sob. Hakoda, overcome by lament, mused, "I wouldn't wish a fate like ours even on our worst enemies… but if this is what it takes to keep them happy… Just tell us they're happy, Amaruq, and we'll bear it all."
"They are happy. In all my years of knowing Sokka, I've never seen him so happy. He's very in love, and he's very excited to be a father."
Kya, desperate for a break, set her guilt aside, willing herself some happiness after such turbulent months, "How far along is Yue?"
"She's nearly finishing her seventh month, so the due date will be somewhere around the end of fall and the beginning of winter," Ki'ma answered.
"There are no complications so far, right?"
"None. As you can imagine, that's what Sokka's been anxious about, too, but she's perfectly fine. She was healed by La after all."
The Southern chieftess brushed away the moisture in her eyes, "All I ask is for you to get a chance to speak with him—"
"How can I, Kya? They're clearly still traumatized. Aren't we all?"
Aren't we all? "W-We swear on the Spirits that we didn't know that was going to happen," Kya said for the trillionth time since the incident, "I might have disapproved of them, and I might have blabbered nonsense about her raising their child by herself…but I never…We never expected to see her in the condition that Pakku left her—"
"Well even if you never expected that to happen, it did, and Sokka had never been the same ever since," Amaruq frowned, blips of horror flickering as he relived the incident, "And Yue… Have you even seen her after that incident? She's trying to be strong, and she's very excited to be a mother, but deep down…" Shaking his head, "That woman is Tui on earth…and what does she get for visiting the Land of La? A pitchfork to the womb in the presence of the people she thought of as her children and refused to let starve. Her blood was spilled in the very palace that exists because of her. It kills Sokka every day to remember that. No matter how happy he is, no matter the fact that he's on cloud nine right now, that memory is never going to go away from him. He's become more sensitive. Even the thought of her being in danger sends him to tears now. I don't know how he or Yue or anyone who was there can come back from that." Glaring at them, "And to this moment, I'm disappointed that you two banished and disowned him. I kept telling you that there was a better way of handling this, but nope."
"Even if there was, the worst of it had already happened," Hakoda rasped, weathering conflict and pain. "He wasn't going to look at us ever again anyway."
Amaruq turned to his sister, "Let them be, Kya. For a good while. At least until the baby gets here and they've had the chance to fully ease into parenthood. When the worst of their fears is obliterated. The least you can all do is give them time to heal."
Yue awoke with a start, her eyes wide. Her palms flew to her belly by instinct. When she felt the weight of life intact within her, she breathed a sigh of relief, tossing away the images of the blood-bathed Southern tundra.
"Nalligima?" The arm around her bare skin felt the jolt of movement and the quickening of her pulse, prompting him to slip out of his slumber, "Everything okay, baby?"
"Yeah, yeah."
She tried to blink away the vestiges of her nightmare. Out of instinct, she coated her hand with water and smoothed her palm over her stomach, stopping where she picked up the sensation of their daughter's heartbeat. Although Yue was not as obvious about still being haunted by the incident down South, she repeatedly sought reassurance through the heartbeat of their healthy baby. It was certainly a plus that she was carrying their baby and was able to have frequent access to this ability. It provided much comfort, and even during Sokka's heightened bouts of panic deep in the night, she would guide his hand similarly, and he would fall asleep to the rhythm. She relaxed against the sheets, trying to even her ragged breath.
"Yue?" he was wide awake now, "Are you having contractions—?!"
"Calm down. I would tell you if I am."
"Then what's wrong?" Noting the hand on her stomach, "Are you in pain—?"
"No, I'm okay."
Blinking at their nude forms, "Was I being too rough last night—?"
"No, it's not that," she flushed. She didn't think it was even possible for him to be rough with her.
"Then what is it?"
Not wanting him to freak out over the horrific incident again, "I think I'm just really hungry…"
"Why didn't you say so, baby?" He turned around and reached for the bedside table. She saw that he had arranged beforehand a bowl of mangoes, strawberries, and cream and a bowl of noodles and spicy kelp pickle — both cravings having hit her since the past month.
"I figured my favorite ladies would want a snack at some point," he gently rubbed her belly. "I'm not having you sneaking around at night again."
She gave him a grateful kiss, "Let's share."
"No, love, I'm good," he assured, helping her sit up. She wrapped the sheet around herself as he placed the bowls in front of her. She was ravenous as she said, but he knew fatigue and hunger weren't what likely caused her to jolt awake like that in the middle of the night. He waited until she finished eating, a soft hand smoothing down her back.
"You want a back rub?" he asked sweetly.
"No, I'm okay…Just stay close to me…"
"Always."
She leaned against his shoulder, holding tightly onto his arm. He soothed her with kisses to her temple. "It was that nightmare again, wasn't it? Don't try to hide it."
She sighed and nodded, the nature of her tightening grip subtly confirming the substance of her nightmare. He held back a shudder, refusing to let those haunting images come to mind. "Everything's gonna be okay," he said. "I'm doing everything I can to minimize any form of contact with 'em. And it's only a matter of time before our panikuluk gets here. There's nothing to be worried about."
"I know, it's just… Everything's going well, but I'm still scared for some reason," she breathed. "I can't seem to stop those images… I don't want to think about them. I'm healed, so why should I think about them?"
"I know what you mean," he whispered. "I get those images stuck in my head, too. Even when everything around us is the exact opposite of that horror. So I'm trying to distract myself. Trying to replace those images, you know?"
And moments like this made the task quite easy— the motherly glow on her graceful face that obliterated the darkness of that horrid night of the eclipse, the fullness of her nourishing breasts, the warm sheet hugging her maternal figure, the regal sway in her movements, the warmth in her baby blue eyes and the power she exhuded in sustaining the life inside of her. She was at her most beautiful in this moment — the moon at its brightest, most complete as the symbol of everything she aspired to be: a leader, a mother, a revolution. And yet, she had no idea of what she was doing to him in this moment. How sincerely he etched this moment into his memory, driving away the blood-bathed tundra from the back of his mind.
"I'll feel much better once our panikuluk is here," she said. "When we see her and hold her…we won't have to think about anything else."
"Well we won't have to wait too long for that," he smiled, combing her hair out of the way with his fingers, "Go back to sleep. I'll be right here."
"I'm not really sleepy."
He cast a look in the corner of the room, noting the gifts that they were lavished with at the baby shower earlier, "Well hey, those presents aren't gonna open themselves. Why don't we take a look at 'em?"
He was pleased to see the excitement return to her as they both sieved through the gifts addressed to the North's little dronningi. They were sent in from all over the world, symbolizing the appreciation these diverse countries held for the Northern chieftess given her extensive efforts at accommodating them during the Global Conferences.
"And this one says, 'From the newly coronated King Bumi and Queen Toph of Omashu'…wait, Bumi and Toph?" Sokka raised his eyebrows.
"It was kind of unexpected," Yue shrugged, smiling at the tiny jade outfit she extracted from the gift box.
"There's a note inside," Sokka noted, reading aloud, "'Sokka, congrats to you and Chieftess Yue. Best wishes from your penguin sledding buddy!'"
Yue giggled at the memory of Sokka's penguin sledding mishap, placing the jade outfit aside and turning to another package, "And what about that?"
"It says, 'From Lord Haru and Lady Suki of Kyoshi Island. Congrats on the baby!'"
Following the gifts from the Earth Kingdom were the packages from the Fire Nation. Prince Lu Ten and Princess Song and Prince Zuko and Princess Mai sent in their warm regards and tiny crimson outfits. The Water Tribe was next, commencing with the gifts from their friends down at the Foggy Swamp Tribe.
"'Chief and Chieftess Aninnialuk, congrats on your little stinker. From your Foggy Swamp brethren: Tho, Due, and Huu.'"
Yue laughed joyfully as she picked up a tiny swamp outfit with cotton leaves sewn onto the soft brown shirt and pants, "Aww, this is cute!"
Suspicion, however, obstructed his ebb of joy as he saw a vast collection of presents labeled as being sent in from the South. Blips of his rage were stopped by her hand as she justified the presence of the gifts, revealing the gifts to be from his genuinely well-wishing friends. His worst suspicions were soon realized, however, when he spotted a package at the very bottom of the "Southern" pile.
With infinite love from Chief Hakoda and Chieftess Kya.
"How did that get here?" he snatched the package before she could reach for it, slipping out of bed, "Stay here, I'll be right back."
"Sokka, wait!"
He threw on his robes and took the gift with him as he stormed out of their chamber, human fury threatening to cross into supernatural wrath. He shoved the gift into the hands of the guard right outside of the common chambers, who cowered back upon seeing the chieftain's stark black irises.
"If I EVER see anything else from the Southern royal family in my palace, everyone here is going to regret it!"
"Y-Yes, yes, Y-Your M-Maje… Holiness," the guard stammered, clambering upright and saluting the chief, "La, ikulliak! La, ikulliak!"
Kanna was not even fazed when the gifts Kya and Hakoda had so eagerly sent were tossed back on the floor of the blood-stained palace amid a stack of returned correspondences. The Southern chief and chieftess— despite their knowledge of their son's rage— were nevertheless broken to see the packages untouched. A single scroll was attached to them:
Your packages have been redirected for noncompliance with Northern Water Tribe policies and security measures pursuant to Code Eighty-Eight of the Northern Water Tribe Code. All communications between the sister tribes are to be maintained through correspondences between respective palace agents and must only regard matters of national security, assistance, diplomacy, and emergency. Personal communications between the leaders of each respective Tribe are no longer allowed…
Kya sank to her knees, her tears staining the embittered inscriptions on the scroll.
"Your Majesties?"
Ping's hesitant knock on the royals' chambers was answered by an annoyed Sokka, "This better be important."
Holding tightly onto his newest Tui talisman (which had actually been recommended to all servants and members of the palace administration owing to the possibility of the chieftain's La-esque wrath), Ping gulped, "My apologies, Honorable Angayok, but there's someone here who would like to see you and the chieftess."
"Don't you know we're on parental leave?" the chieftain frowned, "Her Majesty is due any day now. Silak and Ukuagek are handling all matters; direct all visitors to them—"
"Our visitor says Her Majesty knows him very well, Angayok. He and his wife only wish to congratulate her. They said they won't take up too much of your time."
"And who are 'they?'"
"Mr. Natsiq and his wife, Lady Lusa."
"Hold up," he huffed, retreating to the bedchamber where the chieftess lay reading a book. The octaves in his voice softened infinitely, "Nalligima, you know anybody named Natsiq? He's here with his wife, apparently."
"Oh," she looked up in surprise, "That's the man I told you Hama attacked. The man I first healed with bloodhealing. He's harmless, he literally worships the ground I walk on. Did they want to see me?"
"Yeah, but are you sure you wanna meet 'em now?"
"It'll only be for a few minutes."
Minutes later, the said worshippers of the ground Yue traversed scrambled up from their seats when the leaders of the North stepped into the leisure room. Yue smiled warmly at them, but they continued to gawk at her as this was their first time seeing her face-to-face in person. There also seemed to be a strange sense of yearning in their glazed gazes, which caught the angayok's ever-suspicious eye.
"Lady Lusa, Mr. Natsiq, it's great to see you," Yue greeted.
They stared at the chieftess, not saying anything for a moment.
"Mr. Natsiq? Is everything alright?"
Snapping out of his trance, "Y-Yes, yes, Kuu…I'I mean, honorable Ataniq. My apologies. Angayok Sokka, it is an honor to finally meet you as well." And they bowed their heads to the ground in prayer style as opposed to the expected mid-bow expected for royals.
"Please, don't bow," Yue said. "And feel free to call me Kuunnguaq if you'd like."
"Yeah, we don't mind the lack of formality too much," Sokka blinked, keeping a cautious eye on them as he helped his wife to a seat. They appeared harmless, perhaps even stricken with some problem or ailment. There were no immediate signs of them being imposters, and they did meet Kuunnguaq regularly all this time and expressed only gratitude with each visit.
But gratitude was not all Sokka was seeing at the moment. There was something else— something deeper than that.
"We are very happy for you, Ataniq," the woman smiled, "and we are waiting eagerly for our new dronningi."
"Thank you," Yue brightened. "How is your family? How are your children?"
"Thriving and successful thanks to you, Honorable Ataniq."
"You don't seem to be very happy, though," Sokka burst the bubble, his eyebrows raised. "Is there anything we can help you with?"
The woman gulped, turning to her husband. Natsiq stated, "We wanted to see you because of an important matter, Your Majesty."
"Any and all matters of concern will be dealt with by our interim leaders," Sokka explained. "As you can expect, Her Majesty and I are on paternal rest. I'll be happy to refer you to Lord Arnook and Lady Ahnah, and they will be happy to assist you with whatever you need."
"We are not in need of any assistance, honorable Angayok," Lusa said. "We just wanted to give you some information."
"About what?"
"About ourselves."
Not batting an eye, "Proceed."
Natsiq turned to the chieftess, "Ataniq, when I begged for the chance to repay you long ago, you asked me to let you know of any information about the Akna that I come across…and I regret to say that I've failed your request."
Softening her eyes despite housing a degree of wariness, "You don't have to do that anymore, sir. It's best if the Akna stays hidden anyway."
"I agree…but when I say I failed, I don't exactly mean that I haven't found any information." Swallowing, "I've only failed to disclose it to you all these years."
To which the Northern leaders stiffened. Sokka frowned, making his reassuring hold on Yue's hand as casual as he could, "You have information? And how do you know it's reliable?"
"It is reliable, sir, because I am a witness to the truth." And after taking a deep breath and turning to Yue, "I apologize, Ataniq. I deliberately hid from you the truth that…that the Akna is my none other than my long-lost niece…"
With his eyes nearly bulging out of their sockets, Sokka shot up from his seat, and had Yue not been weighed down by the child in her belly, she probably would have as well. She gripped the armrest, shell-shocked. "What?"
"No one wants to speak of their greatest regrets. Especially if they wish to be seen positively by their heroes. You are the Goddess of our household, Ataniq Kuunnguaq…And we didn't want you to be disgusted with us." The man lowered his head in shame, "The Akna…that child was abandoned by my younger sister, Kunya. And to think that child saved our lives…even though we have only done injustice to her…"
They knew. By sheer instinct, Sokka stood between his wife and the visitors, wearing a defensive scowl. "We're not talking about this," he nearly hissed.
"We swear on the Spirits responsible for our existence that we're not here to give you a hard time, Your Majesty," the man stood up and pleaded, "Please give us the chance to explain ourselves—"
"There's no need for explanations—!"
But Yue's hand on his shoulder signaled him to be calm, casting a firm, defensive glare at the couple. "I want to hear what they have to say about this."
In describing his sister, Natsiq spoke of a beautiful tribeswoman who loved to play with animals and was fascinated by storms and auroras— a fact that made Yue's boiling heart stop as she stared at her reflection in the sheen of the icy floor. She swallowed her observations, mutely staring ahead as Natsiq went on about his sister and her naïveté. Perhaps Kunya's greatest flaw was trusting people with her entire being whenever they showed her a single ray of kindness. It was this habit of hers that prompted her parents to constantly look out for her, to find their innocent daughter a kind, mature tribesman — preferably someone from their tiny village who would genuinely care for her and protect her. These plans, however, were dashed to the ground when Kunya eventually admitted to falling for a visiting Air monk.
"Naturally we refused," Natsiq said. "We had not met the monk even once, but we did hear about him. Everyone around us was stuck in the illusion that an airbender could never do anyone any wrong, but we knew a marriage would not work out. He was a prodigy under the tutelage of a revered mentor, and he was destined for a detached life, and yet he had apparently made many promises to her. Promises we knew he wouldn't keep."
Long after they believed the visiting monks had left, their parents had arranged another man for Kunya, but she surprised them all by eloping with the said monk, who had stayed behind and kept himself hidden as one among the members of the community. And after she left, jabs from the community hardened the hearts of their conservative parents, who had declared her as good as dead. They saw Kunya again a year later, however; she was abandoned, embittered, and eight months pregnant. But her parents insisted that she tarnished the family reputation and told her she was dead to them.
"She begged to be taken back," Lusa said. "She said she would do whatever it took. My in-laws said the only way they would take her back is if she got rid of her child for good. Natsiq and I did everything we could to stop her from leaving. There was no way she would be able to sustain herself in a condition like that. We said we could give the child away when it was born and keep Kunya with us…but they didn't even let her into the house, and there was nothing else we could do..."
Kunya came back in exactly a month, determined, breathless, and bleeding as she collapsed against their doorstep from the exhaustion of birth. Claiming she abandoned that child for good, she said she would do whatever their parents wanted her to do.
"Everyone knows how she left that baby to starve at the temple, but no one knows that her decision ate her away little by little. She had struggled to regain the love of our parents, but at what cost?"
Determined to keep Kunya from succumbing to maternal sentiment, their family immediately moved out of their Northern village and settled down in an Earth Kingdom town far, far away, having sought refuge near some well-wishers who took pity on their family. For several days after her return, Kunya spoke to no one— not when their parents loosened up in the presence of their new, welcoming community; not when everyone tried to make the best of the situation and go back to the way it was; not even when they proceeded to live their lives as if she didn't elope at all.
"We encouraged her to pursue healing or study whatever she wanted," Natsiq said. "We just wanted her to forget the whole thing like it was a nightmare. But she couldn't let it go. I was more lenient than our parents, so she would talk to me if she ever wanted to talk at all. Nearly every conversation I had with her, she would tell me that her baby had beautiful white-hair and the complexion of the moon. A replica of Tui."
A replica of Tui. Sokka swallowed, alarmed by the unreadable expression on Yue's face.
"Kunya had spiralled several times," Natsiq went on, describing how the distressed woman would wake up in the middle of the night with a jolt in her heart from the nightmares she had of her dying baby, from the callousness she had displayed in directing her hatred for the monk on an innocent life. All of Kunya's hobbies, passions, and attempts to move forward turned to dust as she wasted away in her room, constantly thinking of the newborn she had left behind. Regaining her parents' love and trust, which had been her sole goal, provided her with no happiness at all.
"We felt the best way to save her was to get her remarried so she can start a family properly and get over her loss," Natsiq said. "We were lucky to have found an Earth Kingdom man. A widower who was not much older than her and did not have any children. He was more than willing to accept her for who she was and start a new life with her."
But Kunya became deranged as the days passed. She no longer slept at night, roaming their home with bloodshot eyes in the wee hours. One night, she even tried to sneak out of the house to turn herself in to the local authorities and confess to infanticide. As if that was not enough, in the nights leading up to her engagement, she heard voices in the dead of the night— repeated hallucinations of a child who did not stop crying no matter what. Kunya also threw a fit on the day her engagement was planned; she had rushed out in the middle of the ceremony, determined to take the next train back to the North, to the Moon Temple where she had abandoned her child. They found her days later in a nearby town, unconscious in the middle of a dirt road.
From there, her nightly rituals had progressed from pacing the hallways to singing lullabies for a child that they all believed did not exist any longer. She grieved and grieved, and she began to visit the local Earth Kingdom temple to offer milk to the deities there, requesting the idols every day to feed her deceased baby in the Spirit World.
"She would obsessively draw pictures of you," Natsiq told Yue. "Every time she thought about you, she would turn to her notebook. She had this big notebook that she kept with her at all times."
At one point, the pictures weren't enough. Kunya had begged her brother to buy her a baby doll, and she bleached the doll's dark hair, painting over the doll's darkness a lighter shade.
"She would sleep next to that doll every night. She would bathe it every day and change her dresses and everything."
And one day when her touch with reality completely faltered, she woke up with a fierce instinct to nurse her "baby," whom she believed the Spirits had "finally given back to her." She panicked when she realized that she was no longer producing milk, and when she tried to feed the doll with a bottle, she had a meltdown upon seeing that the "baby" didn't suckle at the bottle.
"It was the most chaotic day we've ever had with her," the man sighed wearily, tears dripping profusely from his eyes, "She made a big scene. Bringing in midwives and wet nurses. She was concerned the doll was dying of starvation. She had lost touch with reality completely. Our parents blamed themselves for this— as they rightly should. The heartbreak consumed them, but even when they passed, she didn't react. She did not care about the world or anyone. Anyone but that child she left behind. My wife and I could not figure out a way to control her, and we were forced to have her institutionalized."
Determined to bring happiness and sanity back into his sister's life, Natsiq had set out to find her baby and bring her back, believing that there was enough compassion in the world, that some caring individual must have felt pity for the child and had taken her in. That bringing his niece back would undoubtedly heal Kunya and give her the chance to be a good mother.
"I came to Agna Qel'a. I tried to check with the Moon Temple, but by then, everyone in the community was speaking of that child like she was the plague, and there was too much violence around the area in general. The temple was closed and deemed impure then. I was terrified of asking for the baby who was left at the temple, but I was still determined to find her and take her with me, so I searched all over Agna Qel'a… But by then, I received word from the institution that my sister had passed…" Shrugging as he kept himself from bursting into tears, "Someone at the institution had apparently believed the baby doll was making her condition worse. They threw the doll out into the water…and she had hallucinations, apparently, that La was angry with her and was taking the baby away from her again. She followed that doll into the ocean, and…her body and her doll were never found."
Yue, who had said nothing all this time, trembled in her seat as she laid back against the cushion. Sokka's hands rested persistently on her shoulders, the warmth of his grip keeping her from any kind of outburst.
"We had expected Kunya to move on from her past…but I realized just how difficult of a task that was for her when our financial condition deteriorated, and I found that I couldn't feed my small children," Nasiq said. "I could not find a single job. We moved back to the North and asked some old friends for help, but there was nothing anyone could do for me. That was when I snuck into your training home, and that was when Hama…You know the rest from there…" Drying his eyes, "If only I had seen your face right then and there…I would've recognized the spitting image of my sister much earlier."
Spitting image. The words stung the chieftess.
"I would have told you the truth, and I would've taken you with me," he said with every bit of sincerity, "I don't know how the North would have turned out, and I don't know how the South would've fared without you there to implement the revival project against all odds, but I still would've taken you with me, anngaga." My niece.
And the chieftess just stared ahead, petrified to a degree by his use of the familial term.
"After seeing your face for the first time a few months ago…and realizing that you are our Akna…we were not sure what to do," Lusa said. "When you publicly announced that your biological father was really an airbender and that your biological mother abandoned you…you didn't specifically say you were left at a temple…but hearing how you withdrew yourself from all contact a few days prior to your announcement, we realized you likely knew the past."
"We can't imagine how it must feel to find out so suddenly that you are the child our backwards society is unwilling to embrace…But this was never something we expected to happen. And please, don't get me wrong. I'm not at all defending Kunya. She may be my baby sister, but she made a grave mistake. I don't believe there's any way she can be redeemed for leaving you like that…" Shaking his head, "And we're not going to act like we're innocent, either because we had been determined to give you up before you were born…but the guilt and regret are eating us away. Just like they ate away at Kunya. She died thinking that you and only you mattered to her. She died drowning in her own regret…"
"You made it clear several times that you wanted nothing to do with your biological family members should you ever run into them," Lusa added, "You said that you had no need for them. And we respect that if you choose to still stand by that…But…we felt like you still had to know the truth. We couldn't stop ourselves from coming here. We wanted to see Kunya through you one more time…even if this is our last time…"
Sokka was deathly quiet and pale, waiting for her reaction, but Yue remained silent, trapping a moist glaze in her eyes. She shook it away in a moment's time, however, surprisingly calmer than expected, "Impressive story you have there. I bet if you forwarded this script to a playwright, you'll have a dramatic work on your hands."
"Your Majesty—"
"What else do you expect me to say?" And the scowl that followed surprised them all. "How convenient is it that you're piecing this together after you found out I became the chieftess—"
"Please don't misunderstand, Your Majesty," Natsiq brushed away his returning tears. "We—"
"We've had imposters before," she cut him off. "At this rate, I'll have a mother and father and aunt and uncle in every Water Tribe and Air Nomad household—"
"Love, don't stress yourself," Sokka told her, "I'll handle this, okay—?"
"We are not here to deceive you, honorable angajukkaat," Lusa shook her head frantically at the leaders, "We had actually wanted to come earlier and see you after we heard what happened in the South, but the security measures had been impossibly higher back then and—"
"I don't need your fake concerns," Yue snapped.
"Please, Ataniq. We are not telling you this because you're the chieftess now or because we want something from you. We're not saying this because we want to take advantage of you in any way." Natsiq dropped to his knees, trying to express his utmost humility, "We see you as our patron goddess to this very moment—"
"Then find yourselves out of here," Sokka ordered, helping his wife up.
"We bring proof! Please!" Natsiq reached into the satchel he kept beside him and pulled out a thick notebook. "These are my sister's drawings. They are all of you, Ataniq," he said, placing them on the table between them, "There is also a portrait of Kunya inside. You will see just how alike you both look…A-And if you take a look at the drawings—"
But in a fit of rage, Yue tossed the notebook aside, "I am not obligated to believe in these lies. Those could be fabricated, for all I care."
With tears in their eyes, the visitors attempted to convince her otherwise, but Yue held her hand up to stop their rambles, "Whether or not you're telling the truth, the fact of the matter is that if we sat around justifying the actions of all parents who throw their children away, it would be a severe blow to justice." Glaring, "I don't exactly understand what it is you want from me or what the reason is for your performance right now, but I never want to see any of you ever again."
Natsiq rose to his feet, defeated, "We are telling the truth, Ataniq, whether you choose to believe us or not. And we're also being honest when we say we can never repay you for everything you've done for us. We thought all this time that our repayment is in finding the Akna, but now we realize that it's really in keeping this secret buried for the rest of our lives. This nation needs you. We need you. And we can promise you that our lineage will never be a threat to you." Bowing once more, joined by his wife, "As your humble servants, we pray that you are safe and happy as always, and we are infinitely happy that you found someone loyal. I know Kunya will be happy, too, wherever she is."
Yue took a staggered breath, grateful for Sokka's warm grip that steered her away from the chaos.
They were liars. Imposters. They obviously needed something from her.
At least, this was what she tried to tell herself and her panicking parents, who were enraged that the couple had the guts to enter the palace and assert their nonsense in the first place. It took several hours for Yue to calm Ahnah down, the former chieftess sporting immense jealousy and fear over the mere thought of Yue's biological mother.
But Yue still had the nagging thought of why they would suddenly lie after several years of their trust and gratitude. She didn't understand. She didn't wish to believe any of what they said was true. And yet, she couldn't stop herself from trying to pull herself up in an effort to search the leisure hall — despite the fact that being stealthy and quiet was out of the question in her present condition— for the Spirit-damned notebook that supposedly held the evidence those people had insisted was real.
She was surprised, however, to see Sokka holding the notebook out in front of her before she could slip out of their chambers. "Were you going to look for this?"
She swallowed, shaking her head, "No, why would I look for this?"
But he was wearing a look of concern and understanding, and she found that she couldn't keep up her act.
"I told silak and ukuagek that I had this thrown out. So they won't be hurt."
She nodded as he softly beside her. "Did you see her picture?"
"No." Holding the book out to her again, "Do you want to?"
She did not answer, simply staring at the notebook, her eyes boiling with denial and moisture.
"Nalligima?"
"It's just hormones," she lied, eventually grabbing the old notebook and opening it up rashly. And just as the visitors had claimed, there was a portrait of the woman tucked into the book.
"Spirits." Natsiq was certainly not wrong when he said the woman was nearly identical to Yue in appearance. More similar to Yue in appearance than Ahnah was. Yue stared at the portrait for a long time, taking in the image of the beautiful tribeswoman, her eyes the exact shade of blue as Yue's. She was smiling as if she seemed too innocent for this world— a monstrious irony given how easily she offered her baby as a sacrifice.
Yue brusquely turned the pages. She had hoped to remain unfazed but cursed herself for breaking so quickly; the drawings were very meticulous. The first several pages dedicated to refining the image of a baby whose hair was left uncolored against the white parchment. They transitioned from initially hesitant brush strokes, seeking to capture the figure of a child lying by the vague outline of an altar, to more confident renditions of the said child kicking her small legs and feet in the air in the dark temple surroundings. It was the same image drawn over and over again in different angles, and it was always the baby that the artist was so invested with drawing, excluding the altar, furniture, and the setting entirely in later drawings.
The pages after that progressed, developing the child further. The white-haired baby began to no longer be alone. In one image, she was sleeping in Kunya's arms, and in another, she was sitting in Kunya's lap as the darker woman fed her. She later began to appear as a toddler playing ball with Kunya, then a young child taught to write by Kunya, then a teenager whom Kunya personally adorned in jewelry. The pages culminated with the image of the Tui-esque young woman holding Kunya's hand, and at the bottom of the page was calligraphy smeared with tears.
Ogguarpunga. I'm sorry.
Nalligivagit. I love you.
"Damn this woman," Yue threw the book on the bed, her voice breaking. She didn't deny her tears, sobbing as he brought her into his arms.
"It's okay," he whispered. "It's okay…"
"Damn her," she muttered over and over again, burying herself against his chest, "Damn her…"
Among the most beautiful sounds in the universe, their panikuluk's first wails took the victory. Among the most sacred touches in the universe, the warmth of their little one as she snuggled in their arms ranked first. And among the most mesmerizing sights in the universe, the image of the little dronningi suckling her mother's breast for the first time, her tiny fingers enclosed in little fists, reigned superior.
It was everything they ever wanted.
Through blissful tears, Yue kept her arms wrapped gently around the infant, kissing the top of her head, whispering a chant of protection. Sokka was not too far behind with his waterworks; his hand, tingling from the chieftess having clamped down on it during labor, rested on his wife's shoulder as he gazed down at their newborn. The little dronningi fluttered her eyes curiously at her mother, teetering between sleep and hunger.
"Hey paniga," the new father whispered, his hand reaching for the baby's small hand with infinite gentleness, "I'm your ataata. I'm the guy who kept talking to you whenever your anaana fell asleep. Remember me?"
To which her sleepy eyes turned to him, blinking at him in interest.
"She knows your voice," Yue smiled, and he grinned as widely as he possibly could, seeming to nearly split his face open. He melted completely at the sensation of his daughter's hand grazing his finger. A tear slipped onto the baby's wrist; he wiped it away before drying his eyes, etching this memory onto his soul — yet another image to replace the horrors of the South, which surprisingly did not even come to mind at the moment.
"I guess we need to pick a name now, huh," Sokka said, "But now that she's here, it seems none of the names we thought about would do justice." Wrapping his arm around Yue's shoulder, "I still think her name should resemble yours somehow. The love of my life…"
Yue looked from her smiling husband to their panikuluk, lost pleasantly in the deep blue seas of their identical eyes. "What about Ummisanga?"
"Ummisanga?" Laughing sea.
"It's also after La, the love of my life."
He pouted a little, "I thought I'm the love of your life!"
"That's what I just said. Last I checked, you were supposed to be La, fellow Wolf-Moonite."
"In that case…" He grinned, pleased. "Ummi…Ummisanga…Ummisanga Aninnialuk… Dronningi Ummisanga. Ataniq Ummisanga of the Northern Water Tribe. The reign of Nunaatip Anaana Ummisanga…"
Chuckling at his experimentation, "So what do you think?"
He smiled even wider than he thought was possible, letting loose a joyful laugh, "It's perfect!"
Little Ummi found herself in her father's arms again after she was nursed. Her fragile form hugged his bare chest, tiny fingers splayed over his light spot. He whispered her name periodically like a divine chant.
"You know ataata loves you and your anaana so, so much, right?" he told her.
Yue leaned against his shoulder, finding herself at utmost peace, "And we love you."
A/N: Working on a resolution for this fic. I might wrap it up in a few more chapters (not sure how many just yet). I don't intend to stretch this story longer than it should be. A huge thank you to all my readers for supporting this fic!