One-shot XV: Pet.

The twins were in the care of their uncles in the Northern Water Tribe, at eight years old it was the first time they were there, and they were already bored. Their parents had had an urgent appointment to attend in Republic City and they did not want to leave their kids alone in the immense palace, their aunt Katara went with their cousins to the healers and their uncles went to solve some things with the tribe warriors which left kids numb (even if they had several layers of coats) and sitting in the living room of a house.

On that particular day, Sokka was in charge of taking care of his nephews and ran everywhere so as not to neglect his obligations, until he had the not-so-bright idea of taking them to the spirit oasis, it was supposed to be because they were not used to the cold they could be much more comfortable there, although it was true because when they arrived they took off some layers of their heavy cotton coats, also being less numb they began to run around the place without understanding the importance it had for the tribe, Izumi began to cut some small wildflowers that were growing in the grass while Tenzin watched the koi fish swimming in circles and began to be tempted to reach out his hand to touch them. Sokka was supposed to take care of the kids more attentively there but someone came running towards him, he muttered something to the kids who did not pay attention to him and ran away, Izumi seeing that they had left them alone smiled widely and walked towards her brother.

"Let's have an adventure."

"We can't, they won't let us get out" Tenzin said simply, reaching his hand into the pond.

"No one will find out if nothing happens, besides the north pole is very big" the girl continued, putting on her huge coat again.

"We couldn't even see the city, genius."

"I didn't say that we'll see out there" she pointed to the opposite side of the city with great pride and without insisting too much she managed to convince her brother.

"Okay, if it's fast…" Tenzin answered, standing up more convinced.

The kids nodded and slipped back into their many coats, holding hands, and looking for a way out of the snow. They moved through the ice until the cold air hit them again, they were lucky that it was "spring" and at that time of year there were no snowstorms that made them get lost, excited, they almost ran in the middle of the snow until they arrived at a small cave and decided to explore it. Although they did not find much inside, only what seemed to be signals of an old campfire that Izumi with her firebending was able to rekindle, at least for a while, but before they could explore the bottom of the cave, they heard a sound behind of them, as if it were a small bark, they turned around and saw a little white ball that jumped and moved restlessly in the snow, it seemed to suffer a little with the cold, the twins approached a little until they distinguished a bear polar dog puppy, seemed to have been lost. Tenzin carried the small animal into the cave where he huddled next to the weak fire, Izumi took off a coat and covered the cub with it.

"You're crazy, you're going to freeze" Tenzin almost yelled her alarmed.

"Firebenders don't get freeze" the girl said full of pride while her brother looked at her badly and she returned the gesture "hey... technically you neither, airbenders heat up with their breath."

"It's true, but a while ago you were complaining about the cold."

Izumi was silent for a moment and then screamed.

"I think it's hungry!" she pointed to the puppy who turned to see her "Tenzin, give they something" he looked at her confused and she got a bit exasperated "you always hide food in your pockets."

"What concept do you have of me?"

"Just give them the food" Tenzin took a piece of bread out of his clothes and put it in front of the puppy who sniffed it a bit before starting to eat, took some bites and barked contentedly. The kids smiled happily seeing it "I think we should go back; uncle Sokka must be looking for us and I think it took us too long."

The kids reflected for a moment in silence, if their uncle did not see them, he would be scared and send a letter to their parents, they would organize an immense expedition and when their mother reached the North Pole… he would kill them. They both looked at each other knowing what the other was thinking, nodded, and got up, brushing off their clothes. Between the two of them, they carried the puppy that did not stop moving uncomfortably, they left the cave and the cold air hit them again making Izumi feel particularly bad, who had to remove a glove to produce a small flame that would heat them a bit. They walked as fast as they could until they reached the spirit oasis where they left the puppy on the grass, Tenzin also took off his coat making a improved bed for the animal that seemed much more comfortable, but it no longer seemed to want to jump around the place.

The kids contemplated it until a noise at the door alerted them.

"I told you they were here, they're fine" their uncle Sokka said between nervous and relieved, who arrived accompanied by their parents.

Aang looked suspiciously at the kids who had made a little jump in shock, without saying anything else to Sokka, he walked towards the kids.

"It's a cute puppy, but you should give it back."

"Give it back?" the twins asked confused.

"Yes, give it back to the hatcheries, only from there it could have come out."

"We didn't steal it, we found it... we found it in..."

"We found it here" Tenzin shouted to help her sister who nodded energetically "they came here alone"

"Really?" the kids nodded again "wild polar bear dogs don't usually come near the city, they don't like to be near humans"

"Yes, yes, it was very strange" Tenzin said, looking away.

"Can we keep it?"

"I don't know, honey."

"Please, we already have Appa and Druk and it won't grow any bigger than Appa." Tenzin continued, clinging to his mother's robes.

"I'll talk about it with your father, while go and grab your things with your dad because I have to talk something with your uncle Sokka" the kids nodded and ran towards their father, when they left, Sokka had a fake sense of security, at least until he turned around to look at Aang "why did you leave them alone here?"

"It was only for a second, nothing happened to them" Sokka replied who took a couple of steps back, Aang did not look really angry, but his expression began to scare him.

"They got out, damn it! you let them go out alone to the north pole, you let my children go out into the snow and they brought a wild animal."

"It's just a baby" Sokka said, pointing at the already scared animal, he thought that Aang could kill him there and he could not even stop him.

"We don't know if they only found it abandoned or stolen, they could run into the mother and believe me you don't know how a mother can be if she feels that her cubs are in danger."

Hearing the screams in the spirit oasis, Zuko walked back to the door and decided to enter again leaving his son and daughter with Katara for a second, who had approached because of the commotion, although the twins followed their father to see what caused such a fuss. The scene was almost comical for them: they saw how their father held their mother by the waist, who seemed to want to launch an attack on their uncle Sokka, although that did not prevent him from ending up covered in water and perhaps having some slight burns on his clothes.

Although the kids were not safe, after calming down a little and moving away from Sokka, Aang also scold his kids for what had happened but Zuko let them keep the puppy, although Aang did not say anything else because they remembered him from when he was younger and If it weren't for Katara they would have ended up traveling with a bunch of animals that Aang found along the way.