"When I choose to return, it will be on my own terms."

Su felt like she had aged twenty years in the last ten minutes as she walked into the house, Kuvira's threat still ringing in her ears. She leaned heavily against the doorframe, covering her eyes with her hand. Her chest felt tight, and the tears were building in her eyes, threatening to overflow. She couldn't believe that her own son and the girl whom she had thought of like another daughter would leave like that. And Kuvira's response to Su's words. Su realized that she had not been very kind when speaking to Kuvira, but she was being faced with her family falling apart. She couldn't help it if she was a little over dramatic.

"Mom, what's going on?" she heard Wei ask. She didn't remove her hand from her eyes; she knew there were tears in them.

"We saw a bunch of the airships leave," Wing elaborated. She could sense that the two, seeing their mother like this had become frozen, staring at her. Their mother had always been tough as nails; this was very unnatural.

Su sighed, surreptitiously rubbing the tears from her eyes when she removed her hand, putting on a brave face. "Kuvira has decided to unite the Earth Kingdom," Su explained as calmly as she could. "Baatar Jr. has gone with her along with many of the guard and some citizens."

"Baatar left?" Huan asked angrily. He had appeared behind the twins. Su expected this from Wing and Wei, but Huan never took an interest in family affairs like this.

"Why would he leave with her?" Wing asked.

"How could he be so stupid," Wei added. "It was sad enough when Opal left."

Su felt the tightening in her chest get worse as the boys bickered. She couldn't meet their eyes. She felt like her world was being torn apart. They were right: Opal leaving had been hard, but they had gotten over it. She had to go to learn airbending; it was what she wanted. However, Baatar Jr. leaving felt like an act of betrayal. It made Su sick to her stomach.

Suddenly, arms were around her, and she looked up to find Huan hugging her. She hadn't realized how much the boy had grown as he was now taller than her. She felt the twins join in, hugging either side of her.

"We're not going anywhere, Mom. We promise," Huan said gently. There were murmurs of agreement from the twins. Su melted into their hugs, feeling the tears finally fall from her eyes.

"I am such a lucky mother to have sons like you," she said, placing a hand on either of the twins' backs.

Kuvira placed a hand on the glass paneling of the airship, staring aimlessly at the cloudless sky. She could still see the pained expression in her mentor's eyes as they left the dock. Kuvira had hurt her even more than she had previously intended. She wasn't sure if she felt empowered or regretful.

"Don't tell me you are regretting our decision to leave," Baatar said behind her, joining her to look out the window.

Kuvira shook her head. "Of course I'm not," she said, wiping the sad expression from her face and replacing it with a scowl. "Why would I ever feel bad about that?"

Baatar placed a hand on her shoulder. "I wouldn't blame you. It was hard for even me to see our mom look so hurt."

"She is not my mother!" Kuvira snapped, hitting his hand off her shoulder as she turned toward him. There was fury in her eyes but also pain, and it stunned Baatar into silence. Kuvira took a deep breath, turning back toward the window. "I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me," she said. Then she changed the subject. "Have you radioed Tenzin at the air temple?"

Baatar shook his head slightly as if shaking away his previous surprise.

"Yes I have. We have permission to help with the stabilization of Ba Sing Se," Baatar reported. "He says if we are able to prove ourselves there, President Reiko and the world leaders will discuss preparations to stabilize the Earth Kingdom."

"Oh we won't have a problem doing that," Kuvira said with a smile, previous outburst forgotten.

"There is no way we will fail."

~AN~

Hope you enjoyed this chapter! It's coming a bit earlier than normal because I don't want to forget about it! My day is a little busy... :(

I hope everyone is still enjoying this story. Haven't heard from anyone in a while :( Thanks to you all who are still reading!

Until next week...