Chapter Text
The Epilogue
"Nothing in the world belongs to me
But my love mine, all mine, all mine"
Ember Island, 5 Years Later
Bumi paced back and forth along the smooth red-stained deck. It wasn’t long, just twenty steps to one end and twenty steps to the other, and after a few minutes he was already subconsciously avoiding the nick in the middle and the loose board. With over twenty-five summers of hearty use, the royal beach house had lost some of its regal flare, but was still perfect for a proper vacation- not that their crew was ever picky.
“I can’t believe it.” Bumi sputtered, taking a break from the empty horizon line to call back into the house. “They’re late.”
Izumi poked her head out of the window and wrinkled her nose. “They’re barely late. Which is fine because we aren’t ready for them yet.” She shifted a basket of blankets to her hip, bunching the skirt wrapped at her waist just slightly. They spent practically every moment on Ember Island in bathing suits.
“But they’re never late.” Bumi explained, leaning dramatically onto the doorframe.
“Bumi, baby,” Izumi smiled, beckoning him in with a flick of her hand. He sunk into her embrace. They were both a little sticky from the salt and the heat, but it didn’t matter. “I promise you it’ll be okay.”
“I just want this to be nice.” He sighed.
Izumi took gathered his shoulders and gave them a squeeze. “It is nice.” She assured. “This is really nice.”
Bumi’s face broke into a crooked grin. “I love you.” He said in her native language, giving the princess a peck on the cheek.
“I know.” Izumi grinned, pulling him closer.
For the first time, all of the kids in his family, minus Su, would be on vacation together, without their parents. And it had been his idea. Sure, he’d visited Kya in the South for a weekend here and there, and Tenzin would meet him for tea when he docked occasionally, but this was the first real, intentional trip they would ever be on together, just them. It was a big deal, a turning point, a foundation for what the rest of their adult lives would be like. In a matter of months, Tenzin and Lin would be graduating, they wouldn’t have to go where their parents told them to. Kya was already off on her own, living up to their nomadic roots as she bounced around the globe, but for whatever reason he still felt more sure about his time with her than his brother. In a second, Tenzin and Lin would be able to do what they wanted when they wanted, and if Bumi was being honest he wasn’t quite sure where he fit into that equation.
“You know,” a voice called out from the doorway, irritation seeping into every word. “You two have a room.”
Bumi and Izumi broke apart, reflexively. After spending years of their relationship in secret, from both their family and then even longer from the world, old habits were hard to kick. “I thought you were swimming.” He frowned. “You’re tracking water in the house.”
“Oh no,” His sister gasped. “Whatever will I do.” Kya draped a hand over her head in mock-affliction. She’d arrived last night by boat, opting to come straight from the North Pole where she’d been studying to the island. Their parents had been less than pleased that she would not be stopping in Republic City, but at this point it was clear that no one could tell Kya to do much of anything she didn’t want. Her time in the North had changed her, not just in the paling of her skin and the new tattoo, but in other ways that Bumi wasn’t quite sure how to broach. She was just a little tighter, a little sharper, but not in the undaunted way she was when she was a teenager. This felt deeper, somehow.
“How was the water?” Izumi asked, brushing past their comments as she started to refold the forgotten blankets. Bumi too returned to his chores, starting on the lunch he’d discarded for pacing on their deck.
“Amazing.” Kya gushed, taking a seat at the kitchen island. “So wait, they’re still not here yet?”
Bumi shook his head, gripping the pot with more force than needed. “Don’t get me started.” He sighed.
“They’re never late.” Kya exclaimed, bringing one leg up to her chest.
“They’re young and in love,” Izumi mused, taking a seat beside her. “You both need to give them some slack.”
Kya rolled her eyes. Lin and Tenzin had started dating two summers ago. They weren’t like Bumi and Izumi, they didn’t date in secret or worry too much about their parents or do any of the rather dramatic things they had at the start of their relationship. Tenzin had been somewhat hopeless and Lin had been a little intense, but after an awkward school dance, a sappy first date, and getting caught making out in their uncle’s borrowed car, they found their way to something steady. It was adorable, healthy, and unbelievably tragic. They all knew how it would end, and no one could bring themselves to say it. Bumi had faith, more faith than many, that they could make it work. That love would conquer all. But he was a romantic, and he didn’t look before he leaped. Tenzin was a lot like Izumi, but Lin was Bumi’s exact opposite. It’s why she was his favorite.
It wasn’t until half past three that the familiar grumblings of a sky bison filled the air. Bumi and Izumi were halfway through a particularly competitive game of pai sho which was nearly knocked over as they both scrambled to meet their final guests on the sand.
Lin jumped off first and right into Izumi’s eager arms. The metal bender had grown to be the spitting image of her mother, plus about three inches. She was strong, stronger than any of them at this point, and wore her hair in a traditionally Water Tribe braid that his mother likely did. It was a style that Kya used to wear, and it was the closest Lin would ever come to admitting she looked up to his sister.
After strong hugs and a hair tousling of her hair that threatened to send Bumi back in time, he realized his brother had yet to come off of the bison. Undeterred, Bumi scampered up Oogi’s side and joined Tenzin at the saddle.
“You were late.” Bumi said. It was not the welcome he was envisioning, but it seemed to spill out of his mouth before he could stop himself.
“I know.” Tenzin nodded, passively. He started unloading his pack and Lin’s without another word. Bumi blinked.
“Was the sky falling?” He asked, forcing the somewhat pathetic panic from his voice.
“No.” Tenzin shook his head. His gray eyes were glued to the knot he was methodically unwinding. Bumi sat back and bit the inside of his cheek. His brother had a way of closing down that was so eerily similar to their father it was almost distracting. He seemed so far from the anxious boy who used to follow him around the island.
“Okay.” Bumi said, at last, making room for the packs to slide down Oogi’s tale. Tenzin leaped off and landed silently.
Tenzin turned, finally, meeting his eyes with a sort of apathetic warning. “What’s the big deal?” He asked.
Before Bumi could respond, Kya, who had found her way back into the ocean, had all but clobbered their younger brother, swinging both sopping wet arms around his shoulders. In the last few years, they’d all grown to be about the same height, give or take an inch. Though they’d evened out, their father was still, frustratingly, the tallest.
“Oh just relax!” Kya started, speaking in their mother’s first language. She’d hooked Bumi’s shoulder in too now, yanking them both in close. After just a day under the Fire Nation sun, Bumi had a small sunburn, much to his chagrin, which was not loving her unbridled strength. “Just come be present in this moment with me.” She instructed, closing her eyes and shifting them towards the horizon. Bumi could feel Tenzin rolling his eyes. “Feel the sun, spirits you don’t get sun like this in the North.”
“She spends one year in the poles and acts like she’s never been to the beach.” Tenzin muttered, shaking free from her grasp.
“She’s one with the snow now, we’ve lost her.” Bumi smiled, earning a smirk from his brother and a shove from his sister.
In the house, Tenzin was far warmer to his reception, letting Izumi wrap her arms around him and hug him tight. Bumi watched on with a complicated frustration. The two of them had always had a special bond, an understanding, Izumi had called it. Out of everyone, their lives were the only two already planned out, prewritten. Bumi, Kya, Lin, and Su could run amuck their entire lives and only sully their family’s image, but if Izumi and Tenzin didn’t stay on course the collapse could be catastrophic. Tenzin gave her grace, and in turn, she gave him patience.
Izumi clapped her hands together, gathering everyone’s attention. “Okay, first things first. Rooms.” She explained, leading their crew down the hall. “Bumi and I are in our usual suite, Kya’s in my old room, and Tenzin and Lin I have you here with the queen bed, is that okay?”
Bumi stifled a laugh as he watched Tenzin turned pink. “Oh-yeah I mean-” He sputtered, looking everywhere but his girlfriend. “I- that’s great.” The nervous boy he’d watched grow up was still in there.
“Fine.” Lin said, unfazed.
It didn’t take long for the remaining members of their group to find their bathing suits and head down to the beach. The ocean on Ember Island had a particular pull on each of them that made it feel almost impossible to spend more than a few minutes indoors at a time. Izumi had brought books for each of them, which Lin and Kya quickly began devouring, woven between one another on their towels. With the girls, it seemed, distance never damaged their closeness.
Tenzin walked a ways down the beach to practice some forms without kicking sand into anyone’s faces, leaving Bumi to watch on from the sea. In the last few years, with his growth spurt and the broadening of his shoulders, it seemed Tenzin was growing more and more in to their father. If f it weren’t for his slightly darker complexion, passersby would have begun to mistake him for his predecessor. Bumi understood the similarity, especially as Tenzin moved through forms they’d both watched their dad do more times than they could count, but he was not their father’s mirror. Tenzin moved differently, landed differently, like he was making a slightly different decision at every turn.
As Bumi started to get out of the water, Tenzin was standing on his hands, sweeping both legs so low they almost touched the ground before spinning right back up and over again. Bumi was frozen, transfixed by the ease, the weightlessness with which Tenzin contorted his body. From up close, he could see how his tattoos moved with him, like they were energetic, alive. They ebbed and flowed as he did, racing along the chi paths that coated his arms, legs, and head. They had taken some getting used to at first, for everyone. It had been such a big deal, something his brother had so desperately wanted, that no one had given much thought about what big a change that could be, especially their father. But now, seeing them a few years down the line, healed and in action, Bumi understood.
“How’s the water?” Tenzin asked, standing back up to gaze out across the horizon. Whether people liked it or not, they were all Katara’s children, called to the water by far more than it’s pretty view.
“Great.” He smiled, squeezing the water from his hair. “That was a cool move.”
“Oh. Yeah. Thanks.” Tenzin said, somewhat taken aback. He scratched his shoulder absentmindedly, any guard he’d put up cracking in his surprise. “Suki and I sort of came up with it. It’s not official or anything like that.” He muttered, deflecting the praise.
“Even cooler then.” Bumi decided. Beads of water were dripping off of him, making an impression in the sand where he stood.
“I guess.” Tenzin shrugged. They started back to the rest of the group in a stilted silence that was masked easily by the sound of the waves. When they arrived, Tenzin laid out his towel beside Lin and opened his novel without another word. Bumi frowned, stifling the ache in his chest, and let it be.
The rest of the day passed easily, like most would on Ember Island, filled with volley ball games, sand castle making, and so much swimming that in the days to come they'd wake up with salt in their beds from tracking it in on their bodies.
Just before sunset, as the cool breeze started to come in and their crew began to pack up their things, Bumi shot up from his spot, remembering something crucial they’d forgotten.
“We haven’t jumped off the cliff!” Bumi proclaimed, clutching his chest in grandiose horror.
“Oh right.” Izumi said, realization dawning as she shook the kicked-up sand off of her glasses. “We can do it tomorrow, babe.”
“We have to do it tonight, it’s the tradition!” Bumi whined. He was being erratic, too much as his teachers used to say, but ending their first day of their first vacation any other way felt cruel, like a final nail in the coffin of`their closeness. It was extreme, an ill placed weight to hang on a silly ritual, but it felt like something to cling to. Ember Island did something to him, to each of them, and this felt like part of it. “The summer can’t start without it!”
“It’s throughly spring.” Tenzin pointed out, tucking his towel into the crook of his arm.
“Oh hush, you know what I mean.” Bumi said, waving him off. “I think it could be fun.”
There was a beat of silence, a moment of hesitation that squeezed Bumi’s heart so hard he thought it could burst, before his sister cleared her throat. “Okay fine, yeah.” Kya said, crossing her arms. Her eyes flitted from the scar on his chest to his eyes before saying more, the way she’d always get just a little uneasy seeing the wound she stitched back together out in the open. “I’m in if you’re in.”
After Kya, the others agreed, with varying levels of intrigue, starting the steep walk up to the jumping point. It was technically a volcano, active in Kyoshi’s time, but in their family it was colloquially known as the jumping cliff. Zuko always said it sounded nicer in his language, which was true, but Bumi thought he could’ve come up something better. Regardless, every summer without fail, their parents would jump off the cliff and into the ocean. When Bumi and Izumi came of age, they jumped too, and so on and so forth. It rung in the season in Bumi’s favorite way, big and bold and loudly. It was something scary, something brave, something powerful to do to show the season you were ready for its best.
Once they got to the top, the sun was setting at the horizon line, coating everything in a brilliant shade of orange. Lin peered off the rock and out into the dark waters below. “Isn’t this the place where you broke your arm?” She asked.
Bumi’s eyes narrowed. “That was a long time ago.”
“So,” Izumi asked, stretching her legs for optimal flipping. “Who wants to go first?”
“Oh this is all you princess.” Bumi smiled, making a swooping gesture to the edge.
“Only if you insist.” Izumi smirked. After taking a few steps back, the princess bolted towards the edge, jumping off gracefully into a backflip with minimal splash. Bumi whooped her whole way down.
“I’m next!” Kya called, sparing no time to return to her element. She was off the side with just a few steps, meeting the water in a wave that splashed all the way back up the cliffside.
Lin followed, giving Tenzin’s arm a tap before she started. “C’mon hot stuff let’s do this.” She grinned, getting a running start. Tenzin smiled too, bigger than he had since he’d landed, and took off after her. In an instant, they were both in the air, hand in hand, as they performed a fairly convoluted flip.
And then Bumi was left at the top. And everything felt so painfully stiff again. He had no one to blame but himself, of course. He still felt guilty, being the first person to leave. Maybe deep down he knew that this was his fault, that he’d shown them what to do, taught the baby birds to fly away because he was always the first to leap. Maybe he felt bad for his parents. Maybe this was just selfish.
“You coming Boom?” Kya called, snapping him out of his trance. He could picture them all down there, splashing each other and bopping with the waves just as they would when they were little. This was where they were now. There was no going back. This was it. And sure, he’d had to make them, but they still jumped off the cliff with him. And maybe that was okay.
Bumi laughed in return. “Thought you’d never ask.” And off he went.
Evenings on Ember Island took place around the fire. There were heavy pours and heavier topics and moments that you wanted to bottle forever. Bumi’s heart used to ache for those meals on the beach the same way he yearned for the Winter Solstice in the South and the first day of spring on Kyoshi. They were apart of him, those long nights tucked into his mother’s lap as they spoke in hushed tones about things he wasn’t supposed to hear. It was his lifesblood, and tonight would be no different.
“I feel like this isn’t nearly enough wine.” Kya tutted, bringing bags down to the fire pit. Lin and Tenzin had been tasked with gathering logs, while Bumi and Izumi were on the grill and Kya’s role was griping, apparently. “Izumi are there more somewhere else?
“There’s like four bottles there.” Izumi reasoned.
“But we’re five people and we’re here for like three nights.” Kya argued, turning to her brother with a wine bottle pointedly. “Bumi! What gives? This was supposed to be like you’re whole thing.”
“I knew I forgot something.” Bumi frowned. Twenty-four had been kinder to him than his teens. As the years passed by, he found himself growing less and less drawn to the compulsion that once felt like it held him together. Suffice to say, alcohol had not been on his mind when he’d gone shopping. “Okay I’ll run into town. Tez want to come with me?” He asked, nudging the teen with his foot as he started to construct a fire pit.
Tenzin swatted away his hand. “It’s not that much to carry,” he reasoned. “I’d rather stay and help, you can do it.”
“Just come with me.” Bumi pushed, nudging him again.
“Not all of us can blend in.” Tenzin said, definitively, raising his voice just slightly. He clenched and unclenched his jaw, the way their father would. “I can’t exactly go buy alcohol without attracting attention. Go yourself.”
“Okay.” Bumi started, sharing a look with Izumi. His heart had all but dropped. “Fine.”
Before he could turn to leave, Lin cleared her throat. “I’ll go with you.” She said, dusting off her pants.
Bumi looked to his brother, who had a fairly dejected look, and back to Lin, who was unfazed. “Great.” He said, starting away before any more retaliation could follow.
They started down the quiet path in silence, knowing that soon they’d be met with a vibrant cacophony that shrouded every tourist town.The only store selling bottles of alcohol that was still open was on the other side of town, meaning that Lin and Bumi had a long stroll ahead of them. Bumi didn’t mind walking through the plaza. Between the bars and the tourists, was always so full of energy it was practically calling to you to stay and have a dance- which Bumi would, on more than one occasion. But tonight they had a mission.
“I heard about the promotion.” Lin pipped up, first. “Lieutenant Commander. You should be really proud of yourself.”
“Thanks, Buggy. Really.” Bumi said softly, pulling out an old nickname. In just a few short months, he would become the youngest Lieutenant Commander in the history of the United Forces. He’d fought, tooth and nail for this position. He’d earned it by himself for himself. He’d finally done it. And his parents would be there to watch for the first time. Lin smirked. “But you- I haven’t seen you in months- what are you up to? Any big summer plans?”
“I mean,” she started, stepping up onto the sidewalk as they switched from their dirt path and into the city. Her sandals clacked against the old pavement, mixing seamlessly into the sounds of live music and rockus meals spilling out of open air restaurants. It wasn’t always like this, it used to a sad, quiet place with sad, quiet people, but their parents had changed that. “First it’s graduation, then training for the academy entrance exam, then boot camp if I get in, and then starting classes the fall.”
Bumi clicked his tongue, trying hard not to get distracted by everything unfolding around him. It was really the only thing he missed on the boat. The people. He was a city boy at heart.
“How planned.” He chided.
“Well you know me.” Lin sighed.
“I do.” Bumi nodded. “So Tenzin must be excited that you’re staying in the city. Not that he should be the reason, or anything.” Much to Bumi’s chagrin, Tenzin had kept the details of his relationship with Lin decidedly private.
“Yeah, he is.” Lin practically beamed in a sappy, young sort of way that made you want to make sure it could last forever.
The two of them weaved through the crowd on the main road, before opting to take a less populated street, which Sokka used to insist was a shortcut, to get to the store. Inside, Bumi bought an egregious amount of wine while Lin wandered around the store trying hard to look like she’d done this before. Bumi resisted the urge to ask her to pay for it, just to see her face.
With a bag in each hand, they started back out on their quest. In the streets, the nightly festivities were throughly under way, making a clean walk through the plaza almost impossible. Not that Bumi was complaining, he’d force them all to come dancing later this week whether they wanted to or not.
“Bugs.” Bumi sighed, slowing his gait. They were back on the short cut, clinking and bopping as the road became less and less robust. Their dirt path was just a stones throw away, and soon they’d all be back in it. “Is something wrong? Just- I don’t know he feels…” Bumi fumbled, jostling the bag under his arm. “Something just seems off.”
Lin’s face faltered.“It’s not just you.” She mumbled, just above a whisper. “But it’s not about you, either.” They were just outside of town now, the lights from the plaza glowing just behind them, and the winding path to the beach in front. The sounds of the waves crashing on the beach mixed with the lantern flies buzzing around their heads, filling the stillness as they stood. “There’s been a lot of talk… with all of our parents but also just everyone about Tenzin. About the fact that he’s graduating in a couple of weeks and the fact that he’s going to be eighteen…” Lin shifted the bag to her hip, squeezing it harder than she needed to. “It’s just stressing everyone out.”
“Right.” Bumi frowned.
“Sokka says that it was like this when he was introduced, but obviously I don’t remember that.” Lin continued, almost spitefully. A small shiver danced up Bumi’s spine. He remembered it. Not all of it, but the bits and pieces were enough to paint the picture. His parents didn’t sleep that entire autumn. That season also housed the first time he ran away. Lin cleared her throat, trying and failing to mask a small hitch in her voice. “Anyways it’s just hard. This is the time where we’re supposed to be making our own choices for the very first time and he’s… he can’t. It’s a lot of pressure.”
“He should talk to Izumi.” Bumi said, almost chuckling. It was easier here, under the protection of the Ember Island grove, on their little path. It was easier for their great big lives to feel small, to feel livable.
“I’m sorry it’s been so tough, Bug.” He sighed, wrapping a free arm around her shoulders. Lin leaned in, for just a moment.
“He’ll be okay.” Lin said, wiping her face and stepping away from their embrace. “We should head back.”
Bumi didn’t push, he didn’t clarify that he was lamenting for her, not his brother, because of all that this meant for all that they’d built. But Lin wasn’t ready for that, and who was he to deny her this summer? Time had never been kind to his family, and it would seem, that she’d become too close not to meet the same fate.
After a boisterous dinner and an even more spirited after party around the fire, Izumi and Lin decided to call it a night somewhat simultaneously. Izumi claimed to already be feeling a headache and Lin argued that she didn’t want to be responsible for the bottles left a strewn across their corner of the beach, but they had met each others eyes with a far too knowing look to be coincidence. His siblings though had been too caught up in finding constellations to catch it.
Instead of following his girlfriend inside, Bumi poured himself another glass and sat back in the sand beside his brother. They were laying in the same order they used to lay on Appa, Bumi, the baby, and Kya by the supplies. He’d been their protector once, the literal buffer between them and the sky.
Just a few feet away from them, the fire had died down to embers, but he could still smell the smoke. “So Tez,” Bumi started, settling in the sand with a wicked grin. “Are you going to tell mom and dad about the booze like last time?” Kya snorted.
“Are you going to tell mom and dad that you’re married?” Tenzin scoffed.
“That can’t keep being your come back.” Bumi frowned, taking a sip that went half in his mouth and half onto the sand. The summer they were both twenty-two, he and Izumi had decided to do the bonding ceremony of his father’s people. It had been just the two of them, in his father’s temple at sunrise. It was perfect. Bumi had initially sworn off telling anyone, but as soon as he was alone with his siblings he spouted it out with such a big stupid grin on his face. He couldn’t help himself.
“I feel like as long as you’re secretly married it totally can be.” Tenzin retorted. They were each still staring right up, counting constellations, but Bumi could practically feel the smirk on his face. “Also I’ve found four.” He added, smugly.
“Hey!” Bumi gasped. “What on earth happened to you? You’re so bitter!”
“He’s been ruined by teenhood.” Kya chided, giggling. Bumi wondered, breifly, if perhaps the last bottle had been a bad idea. “Absolutely corrupted.”
“Kya stop there’s no getting through to him.” Bumi sat up, reaching a hand out dramatically to fake-comfort his sister. “He’s mean now.”
“That’s what they say.” Tenzin nodded, deciding to play along. “And I won’t tell them. But don’t test me.” He warned. Bumi waved his hands, backing off as he settled back down. They sat in silence for a few moments, only pipping up when they’d found another constellation.
“I found five. And also I’m moving.” Kya declared, after a while. Both Tenzin and Bumi shot up, leaning on their hands as they turned in succession.
“Again?” Tenzin gawked, kicking sand in the air as he shifted.
“Don’t say again like that.” Kya frowned. “Yes, I’m going to join a health clinic in Anada City. It’s near Taku.”
“Wait… that’s where June lives, isn’t it?” Bumi said, the realization dawning on him. “You’re chasing a girl!” He exclaimed. Kya and June had met at the academy in the North, had a somewhat fraught love affair which ended when June took a post in Taku, back in the United Republic where Kya swore she’d never put down more roots than she already had. Until now.
“No.” Kya said, turning up her nose. She started waving her arms, hand-talking in the way she would when she was lying. Bumi smirked. “I’m applying all the skills I learned in those crazy schools to actually help people.”
“You’re chasing a girl.” He giggled again. Kya was about to refute, or at least push him, but before she could their younger brother sat up.
“Wait…” He put up a hand, silencing them both. Tenzin turned to Kya and looked at her, head on, in a way he hadn’t since they’d all arrived. “So you’re coming back?” He asked. His voice was far from hopeful, but it was younger than it had sounded in a while.
“I’m coming back.” Kya nodded, squeezing his arm. “Why, you miss me little brother?” She teased, in their mother’s language.
“Nope.” Tenzin said, firmly, though if they had called Lin back out Bumi would wager she’d beg to differ. “I just need to prepare. The house is finally quiet.”
“By quiet you mean quiet enough for you and Lin-” Kya sneered.
“So June is gonna meet mom and dad then, huh?” Tenzin asked, not giving her the satisfaction of getting flustered. Bumi was impressed.
“Not necessarily.” Kya argued.
“I mean if you’re living in the same county, they’ll definitely meet, little bird.” Bumi deduced, sympathetically. “But they’ll love her. She’s great.”
Kya groaned, cradling her head in her hands. “It’s not her I’m worried about.” She lamented through her fingers. Tenzin snickered.
“What?” Bumi clutched his chest, dramatically. “You’re worried about introducing a normal person to our family? I’m shocked and appalled!” Kya and Tenzin both broke into a fit of laughter, their matching crooked grins taking over their whole faces, to their brother’s immense pleasure.
“So wait.” Tenzin started suddenly, needing no time to catch his breath. “If you’ll be there,” he said, pointing to his sister, “And if Bumi’s coming back for Lieutenant Commander certification and training… We’ll all be in Republic City this summer. For a month at least.”
“Wow.” Kya whistled, long and low, as it settled.
“When’s the last time all three of us were there?” Bumi wondered aloud, suddenly embarrassed that he couldn’t remember. “It wasn’t last year’s Independence Day, was it?”
“I was North.” Kya frowned, her brows furrowed in concentration. “Lin’s metal bending demo?”
“I was at sea.” Bumi sighed, wracking his brain. Republic City housed so much of him, so much of his growth and his failures and all that made him who he is. It’s where so many of his childhood memories live, and the only place where all of them include both of his siblings. He’d been back, of course, and so had Kya, but their visits home didn’t often line up. She would come to him, or him to her, or their family would all meet in the Fire Nation or the South Pole, but it wasn’t often that they’d all meet back at home. It was hard to remember that there was a time when it felt like everything.
“It was my tattoo ceremony.” Tenzin pipped up. He was laying back down now, his eyes on the stars. Bumi and Kya shared a look. If he wanted to, he could completely disappear.
“Really?” Kya pressed, sobering with uncomfortability.
“It couldn’t have been that long ago.” Bumi wondered aloud.
“It was.” Tenzin confirmed, scratching his head, absentmindedly. “Kya you’d just graduated and Bumi was on leave. It was just before my fifteenth birthday.” He spoke with something beyond apathy, like every word was laced with indifference, every sentence ending in quiet acceptance.
“Huh.” Bumi sighed. And there it was. Bumi and Kya had to leave to become who each of them needed to be, and Tenzin had to stay to become who the world needed. They had to go, and he knew that. He still felt abandoned, though. And they knew that too. “Well just have to make the most of it, then.” Bumi added, nodding reassuringly to his sister before they both laid back down.
Between them, Tenzin sighed longer and louder than most people could.
“We always do.”
Bumi thought he’d done it. That his stones had been smoothed out so well, so beautifully, that they could decorate the entry table of the Ember Island elite. They would all be home this summer. They’d share one more summer of family dinners and weekend sparring sessions on the island and nights in the city that he loved so dearly. They’d be home. They would come back to each other. He’d fixed it.
Izumi was waiting up for him, of course, meeting him with the most lovely, comfortable embrace and an enthusiastic ear. They talked, as they often would, about their future and their second wedding and if their children would have his eyes or hers, before slipping off into one of the least fitful sleeps that he’d had in longer than he’d care to admit.
Knock knock
It lasted only three hours. Bumi was many things, but he was not a deep sleeper, and with one soft noise at his door, he was upright and out of bed. Thankfully, Izumi was almost his opposite, practically weighed down by the lack of energy from a sunless sky.
Bumi stumbled out of bed and to his door, half-way through a yawn when his brother came into view. Tenzin was in his sleep shorts, but they were riddled with sand meaning he’d been up for a while His eyebrows were so far up his head in anxiety that his arrow was getting distorted. The sliding glass door was still open just a crack, and the cool breeze was more than welcome. Bumi blinked a few times, letting his eyes adjust to the light. Tenzin was practically buzzing with energy, but it wasn’t eager or even angry, it was just there.
“I’m going to ask Lin to marry me.” Tenzin said. He spoke in a hushed tone, clasping and unclasping his hands together.
Bumi blinked. He carefully shut his bedroom door and joined his brother in the hallway. “Okay.” He started, taking it all in.
“And she’s going to say no.” Tenzin added. His voice was clear, definitive, like he’d never been more sure. Detachment was something he’d mastered, though Bumi was not sure who’d taught him.
“Is this what’s been bugging you?” Bumi asked, it all clicking together. Tenzin was chewing on the inside of his cheek, nodding just a little too quickly.
“Maybe.” He muttered.
“She might not.” Bumi offered. It felt futile, but there was little to say.
Tenzin made a sound akin to a dry laugh. “I know her.” He argued, switching to their father’s language. “I love her. She’s going to say no.”
“Maybe she’ll say yes.” Bumi countered again. He wanted to believe in love. Believe in the fact that they could make it work. That the fate that fell on his brother wouldn’t cost him more than it needed to.
“She doesn’t want kids.” Tenzin explained. His hands were shaking now, just slightly.
“You don’t know that.” Bumi argued. He was wide awake now.
“Sure I do.” Tenzin sighed, running a tired hand over his head. “Kya doesn’t want kids. People don’t want kids, it’s fine. I just…” Tenzin cursed in their mother’s language under his breath. “I can’t not want kids.”
“That’s not true.” Bumi spoke too quickly. It was the wrong thing to say. It was painful to admit this part. That his brother was bound to so many things. Rooted to one future, the future that would bring balance at last. It was almost impossible to make peace with the fact that the same thing that hurt their parents would hurt him. That the pain didn’t end here.
Tenzin slowed, meeting his eyes with a far less indifferent acceptance. “Friend.” He begged. “Please don’t.”
“Okay.” Bumi waved a hand, understanding. “Okay. Yes, you need to have kids. But… now? You could be together longer you-” he sputtered, growing far louder than he should. Bumi felt pinpricks forming in his eyes. He sighed. “You don’t need to do this right now.” He felt like he was begging for borrowed time that Tenzin seemed to already be aware they were out of.
“Mom and dad got married at eighteen.” He refuted, crossing his arms. Bumi scoffed.
“Do you want to be mom and dad?” He dared.
Tenzin looked away.
“No.” He said, quietly. For a moment, the waves and the breeze were all that Bumi could hear, all that he could feel. A part of him knew that was Tenzin, knew that how it was how he tried to calm down, how he calmed others down too, but they’d never talk about that part. About the extent of his balance bringing.
“So why now?” Bumi encouraged, searching his brother’s face for an explanation.
“I need to check boxes, Bumi.” Tenzin massaged the bridge of his nose. “I need to start checking boxes. And I knew that, you know. I knew that!” He shifted his weight, growing more exasperated. The world grew louder. “I know that that’s what this is and it’s all fine but I just… I just…”
“What?” Bumi asked. Tenzin stopped moving and took a hitched breath.
“I love her.”
Tenzin met his brother’s eyes with such a desperation he could practically feel. All the walls were down. It was just the two of them now. And Bumi would have traded places in an instant if it meant he could erase that look from his face. Instead, he opened his arms, and let his brother spill into them.
Aside from the few times danger had found its way to their doorstep, when forces threatened to take away their parents, or each other, on rarer occasions, Tenzin wasn’t someone who cried. Even then, even when he was small, it was only a few tears, tucked away quickly and hastily forgotten. Aang had once explained that air benders were supposed to be good at regulating their emotions, that it was a sign that they were in line with the wind, that they were in control. Bumi didn’t quite see it like that, but what either of them thought didn’t matter. He hadn’t seen his brother cry in a long time. And never like this.
Bumi’s hold tightened as wracked sobs flooded from his brother’s shaking frame.
“She’s going to hate me for this.” Tenzin muttered aloud, wiping tears from flushed cheeks. He’d taken a step back, clutching his elbows like they were all that was holding him up. Bumi waited for him to catch his breath. “She’s been my best friend for my entire life and…” He clutched harder, breaking back down. Bumi was there to catch him. “She’s going to hate me.”
“Oh buddy.” Bumi sighed, cradling his head. They stood together, interwoven and steadfast, as it all came out.
After a few moments, which could have been seconds or could have been hours, Bumi heard a creak at the end of the hall. Tenzin was too distracted to notice two glowing blue eyes approaching them with a nervous curiosity. Bumi wasn’t sure what to tell their sister, how to communicate all of the love and the loss, but as soon as his eyes met hers, it felt like she understood.
Kya reached out a hand to rub Tenzin’s back gently, which was all he needed to spring into her arms. She swayed slightly, letting the gnawing energy that was settled in each of them shake out as they held each other. Over his shoulder, Kya locked eyes with Bumi and beckoned him back into the embrace. Bumi wrapped both hands around them, letting Tenzin settle in the middle, protected on either side as he let himself fall apart.
The next few months would not be kind to their brother, nor would the next few years. They hadn’t been kind to any of them really, but the beauty of younger siblings is that it all feels much rawer when they go through it themselves. It was in this moment that Bumi knew that he’d come back for them. After all was said and done. No matter what that needed to look like. He’d spent so much time wondering if they needed him anymore, that he’d forgotten how much he wanted them.
Whatever happened in the morning, or in a month, or in a year, Bumi would be there. And he would keep being there.
The End. Again.