One-shot XVIII: Republic City.

In Republic City's air temple, things were very quiet, too quiet to have the twins, or so thought most of the air acolytes who saw Izumi calmly reading a book under a tree near her brother who seemed to be training, even though they were already sixteen years old and should no longer be those little whirlwinds that they were before.

"What if we have another adventure?" Izumi asked, lowering her book a little after looking that their "caretakers" left.

"Of course, we will steal a bison and arrive to the North Pole or better yet, at one of the distant air temples."

"Please, we're a couple of steps from one of the most modern cities in the world and you want to continue blowing air."

"We're already a bit older for that, in addition, our parents explicitly told us not to leave the island."

"You don't have to find out" Izumi lowered the book from her and stood up suddenly "aren't you a little curious?"

Tenzin stood still for a moment, and he saw that determined look on his sister's face, they knew each other well enough to know that they were both dying of curiosity. He looked in all directions realizing that they were indeed alone and stood next to her.

"What's your plan?"

When he least imagined it, they were already following his sister's crazy plan, they had stolen clothes from the newcomers and used Tenzin's new glider to leave the island, it was only when they reached the mainland that he reconsidered it. He saw his sister, she still had that look that told him that they would walk through the whole damn city although Tenzin was no longer sure, he began to regret following his sister's crazy idea, he would have preferred to continue practicing without being bothered besides his parents would be upset, especially their 'mother' (although it has been years since they called him that way).

He saw Izumi begin to walk faster and faster, although she was not wearing her glasses, she was moving with great speed. Tenzin could not help noticing that both of them called a lot of attention, although in Republic City they did not know exactly their faces, it was not like their appearance did not stand out, since they had several features of the almost extinct airbenders that made them a bit 'exotic'.

"You know we shouldn't call too much attention" Tenzin said trying to hide in the high collar of his clothes.

"No one will recognize us" Izumi did not look at her brother, she tried to recognize everything that was around her.

"You know we're not supposed to be here."

"You can still leave if you want."

"Izumi!"

"Just look around you, everything looks so new."

"It's bad enough that our parents came for a trial."

"There are a lot of people in the park" Izumi commented who continued ignoring her brother.

"He's supposed to be a dangerous guy."

"New ideas in the air, just look around you, can't you see how lucky we are to be here right now?"

"And what are we supposed to be looking for?" Tenzin asked without looking at his sister as he was very busy threatening a lot of guys who seemed to have the intention of approaching to him.

"A great adventure, of course" she laughed joking a bit, making her brother roll his eyes. Tenzin laughed helplessly, he also saw the almost disappointed faces of a couple of men, he only decided that it was not so bad to be a little lost in the city with his sister, until in the distance he managed to see the would-be military man, the idiot of his cousin-not-cousin, Bumi.

"Monkey feathers" he barely muttered, calling his sister's attention, but before she could say anything, he put the hat he was wearing on her and began to hide her hair, it was silly, but it was the only thing he thought at the time; besides he pulled his sister by the arm to flee.

"What happened?" Izumi could barely ask adjusting her hat.

"Bumi's there, showing off his stupid uniform."

"Do you think he will tell us?"

"He's an idiot, he could do anything."

They moved in the middle of the crowd, they walked towards the park trying to avoid crossing with Bumi.

"For a moment I remembered when we were young, maybe in those times when we raided into the kitchen, you had good ideas."

"We had five, but I can't forget your adventure at the North Pole. Yeah, it was dangerous."

"Fofo was adorable, and you were also going to feed him to me, too bad he had to go to the South Pole and what about Oggi?"

"Of the few crazy things that went well..."

"I still think Naga was a better name" Izumi continued wanting to tease her brother.

"I remember when we argued about that, pops said you had chosen a good name, but it was my decision."

"You didn't make such a good decision" Izumi laughed, and Tenzin followed her "by the way… I'm hungry"

"Me too but I didn't bring anything, dear sister because I'm a normal person."

"I just said I was hungry; I didn't think you would fill your pockets like you were eight years old, or you do it?"

"Of course not" Tenzin denied between embarrassed and offended, he no longer had that rare habit, but he could not deny that before leaving he thought only a little about that possibility.

"I was just saying that we could look somewhere around here, maybe something sweet" the girl kept walking, trying not to look too clumsy because she could not see beyond a couple of meters in the distance.

"We don't carry money either."

"Ok, that will be a problem, do you have any plans?"

"You were supposed to be the one with the plan."

"It did not have in mind to have a snack here."

"Better we could have a snack later in the air temple, we can go back now."

Izumi ignored him and sat on the grass, thinking of some alternative or something that would make them stay a little longer, Tenzin looked everywhere hoping not to find anyone he knew while his sister had a lost look while thinking what else they could do, until in the distance a man appeared doing tricks, he stood in the middle of the park and people began to approach, guided by curiosity, the twins did the same. They saw the guy doing tricks and people threw money at a hat that he left on the ground.

"Maybe I already have a plan."

"I'm not going to do stunts."

"Then I'll do them."

"Do you remember to not call attention? Besides, Bumi is still around."

In the midst of the people, Izumi could notice that someone she knew was approaching, she learned to recognize Lin Beifong silhouette, she was approaching to them, and she could not tell if she was in a good mood or not. She nudged her brother to look.

"I don't think it's a good sign… do you think they're looking for us?" Tenzin was getting more and more anxious and was about to tell his sister to go back.

"Maybe... let's run."

The two ran into the city hoping they were not looking for them, they hoped to get lost in the streets but, as that day was a public and a bit controversial trial, many people gathered in the courthouse.

"Come on, we can go back now, and no one will have noticed."

"Just a little more, please."

Tenzin decided to accept his sister's whim, little by little they went into more remote areas of the city, they were more neglected areas that surprised the twins a bit but without being able to detail the conditions of the place, Tenzin saw metalbenders approaching, almost sure that they would recognize they walked way faster, pushing his sister's back; however, that was in vain, because an officer took him by the shoulders and detailed his faces. When they least expected it, they were already in front of Aunt Toph who had a stern face.

That is why they ended up sitting in the police station chairs after Aunt Toph's sermon who looked quite tense, she just waited for them to come to pick them up because they had not committed any really serious fault to stay longer. Tenzin looked annoyed and did not look at his sister who was hunched over in the chair moving her hands nervously.

"Sorry, I know this will ruin your image here."

"I still don't know what you were thinking, we are no longer children. We have to grow up" Izumi raised her face and contrary to what Tenzin expected to find, he met his sister's challenging gaze.

"You talk like it bothers you to be with me."

"You don't bother me, but you want us to behave like when we were ten years old."

"I just don't know what else to do, everything I try ends up moving you further away" Izumi shrunk back in the chair, this time hiding her face in her hands "I know you already have your responsibilities, but you don't have to leave me behind"

"You don't understand, I'm supposed to rescue an entire culture that I don't understand well, I must bring airbenders because everyone expected it from me. I don't even know if I'm doing it right."

"And you have to do it all by yourself? not even pops were alone, he always had his family there, I don't want you to carry everything by yourself, I don't know how you should feel, but I know that I will carry a nation hated by the whole world and I don't want to do it by myself... I'm afraid of that one day we become so distant that we cannot speak without fighting or that we simply spend years without seeing each other."

Tenzin did not know what to say, he felt slightly guilty because he had never thought that way or how his sister could be feeling, because he thought a lot about her since they arrived at the air temple island, but it had not been correct to overwhelm her with his worries.

"Sorry... I really didn't want to make you feel displaced. I'm also afraid."

They were silent for a second until the door suddenly opened, revealing a serious-looking man, he bowed exaggeratedly and spoke solemnly.

"Your father has arrived for you."

And with those words, it could be one of them, the boys internally asked that it was not Zuko who was already a little pissed off with their escapades and that somehow, they always ended up taking risks or bringing some wild animal.

After a few minutes, the Avatar entered inside the room, they felt calm for a few seconds because it seemed that their prayers were heard; the twins got up, they were already preparing their defense, but Aang just looked at his children for a second and contrary to the reaction they would have expected, his face changed from being totally annoyed to looking relieved, he went to hug them both .

"We were very worried; I don't know what I would have done if they didn't find you."

"Sorry" Tenzin was encouraged to say.

"Sorry for real, but..." Izumi was interrupted by her father who moved away from them to look at their faces, he seemed angry again.

"Don't say anything, how do you think of going out like this? do you know what could have happened to you?" Aang sighed, feeling relieved and angry "just let's go, we'll talk in the air temple" the teenagers looked down and understood that Aang did not want to scold them in the midst of so many people. When they were in the Avatar's flying bison, he saw that his children had their eyes lost in the sky, he also noticed that they were sorry "you will remember that we are here for something serious, the trial of a man who was accused of doing bloodbending" Aang paused feeling his fears coming back "he almost ran away, and I just thought I might try to reach you. When they told me you weren't there, I could only think that someone had done something to you"

"Sorry, we didn't want to worry you. We wanted to know the city and we didn't think it would turn out like that" Izumi spoke in a low voice tone.

"I understand that you want to know new things, I was the same but please don't do it secretly. My nerves and his father's ones will not last one more escape."

"We promise" Izumi and Tenzin said in unison, they thought things would end well after all.

"By the way, your father wants to talk to you when we get there."