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Kavik is 18 when he moves in with Yangchen.
“Move in” would be inaccurate to say though. They move every couple months. Yangchens status as the Avatar never lets her stay in one place for too long. He remembers she once told him: “Seems like you're a nomad too now.” He wasn't quite certain about it at the time, but he is now.
Kavik is certain about a lot of things now.
He’s certain about never living in Bin-Er again. He’s certain Yangchen was the best person he knew. And he was certain that he loved her.
He stood in the kitchen brewing her favorite tea. She insisted he stay in today. ‘I’ll be fine, it's just a meeting,’ she explained. She tucked her hands into her sleeves, something she did whenever she was Avatar Yangchen in front of the people.
But at home she was just Yangchen. Who ranted to him about the idiots she was surrounded by during meetings. And used surprisingly colorful language, unbecoming of a Nun.
He heard the front door open, followed by the sound of grumbling. An unsuccessful day. He saw her come through the door frame, her sleeves rolled up and her feet bare. He would never admit it to her that her look of frustration was often adorable.
“Who was it this time,” he handed her the cup of tea. “Beifong,” she gritted. “He's a greedy good for nothing piece of-“
“Okay let's breathe.” He took a breath in and she rolled her eyes but followed. This became a ritual he’d thought of on the spot. Her frequent dealings with terrible people insisted on it.
“Beifong. He clearly hoards the wealth from the people in this town. It's no wonder everyone is either poor or rich.” She was pacing back and forth in the kitchen, huffing in frustration. “Well they are the bankers. So if anyones sabotaging the people it's them, right?” He walked over to the table and sat on the cushion with his legs crossed. Yangchen followed, sitting on her knees.
She brought her hand to her chin, “He thinks I’m an idiot. It infuriates me.” She took a sip of the tea and smiled at it and then up at him. “You’ve mastered the exact temperature.”
“Well I have hours of practice since you won't let me go with you,” he said, rolling his eyes, pretending as if he didn’t know the reason already. He’d spent trial after error trying to perfect the exact amount of heat and brewing Yangchen took her tea in but it didn't stop him from trying to learn. “I’ll make the tea before bed tonight. My treat.” The casualness of her sentence took him by surprise even now he still couldn’t believe that trajectory of his life. A single girl. The most important girl in the world looked at him and deemed him important to her.
It wasn't something he took lightly. Not anymore.
“Let me know if there’s anything you want to do about Beifong,” he said. But she smiled wickedly at him, a smile reminiscent of the one she gave him when they’d first become partners. The corners of his mouth perked up at her facial expression, “Well….there is one thing.”
That was the thing about Yangchen, when she had an idea she was determined to humble whoever was in her way. Whatever she was thinking he knew she had the people of this town in mind.
That was her divine duty to the world, she took care of others even when they didn't ask for it.
This made it easier to identify his own role, as the person who takes care of her.
He's 19 when they live in the Southern part of Earth Kingdom for a couple weeks.
Kavik placed the plate in front of Yangchen. A traditional Water Tribe breakfast, which she inhaled as a wide smile crossed her face. “As usual, yours is meat free,” he said. He took a seat across from her, lifting his chopsticks to his mouth.
“You didn't need to use two separate pots for it,” Yangchen said. He was well aware how she was willing to bend her cultural practices for the way she operated.
“I know, but…I think it’s just become a habit at this point,” he replied. She gave a lighthearted laugh. “How about I make dinner today then?” She tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear and brought the food to her mouth. Nothing about her tone was any different from how she’d ever spoken to him. The suggestion was so harmless it shouldn’t have rattled him so much.
It sounded…like they were…
“No way.” Kavik shook his head and inwardly scoffed at himself. They were definitely not that.
“No?” Yangchen frowned. “You love my cooking though.”
He did. Despite her lack of experience with Water Tribe cuisine she was fast at picking it up. She would make his favorites whenever she sensed he was in a foul mood.
He blinked. “I do, but I think we should go out instead,” he said.
She raised her eyebrow. “Are you sure?”
“Why not? New city. We should see how the locals eat.” It was one of their favorite things to do when they were in a new location. She would put on her bangs to cover her arrow in order to not draw attention to herself and the locals would see him as a boy having dinner with his friend.
“Alright. My treat though.”
“But–”
“My treat,” she emphasized. She lifted the bowl to her face and drank up every ounce of the broth, something she would never do elsewhere. “What?” she asked.
“Nothing, you’ve just got stuff on your face.” She wiped her left cheek hurriedly and got up from the table. “It's still there.”
“What the–” she began, till she was swiftly cut off by Kavik turning her around by the shoulders, he looked down at her as her gray eyes stared back at him slightly alarmed. He gently wiped the napkin across her right cheek.
“There,” he said. Moving past her to the sink where he’d realized what he’d done, he needed an excuse to not look at her for the next few minutes.
She stared at him with her head tilted to the side and her arms folded before she walked off into her bedroom. He was slightly alarmed when she came out of the room with her forehead covered and the arrows on her hands hidden under fingerless gloves he’d found for her. Her outfit was a green dress with gray trousers fitted underneath as well. She also no longer had her hair out but rather pinned up in two matching buns.
She looked really really pretty. “What are you wearing?” he asked.
She spun as if to show off her outfit. “You said you wanted to go to dinner tonight, right?”
“Right,” he said, slightly regretting saying such a thing all of a sudden. She clasped her hands together, “Well I say we spend the entire day out instead.”
“Entire day?”
“Well it’s what we do anyway,” she said. It was a good point. He rarely spent time with anybody who wasn't Yangchen herself these days. “The city is having a cultural festival anyway. We might as well enjoy ourselves,” she argued. “You need to get out. I should’ve realized that.”
“What?”
“I spend so much time at my meetings, I’ve forgotten I’ve got a responsibility to you too. As your best friend.”
How cute. He grinned. “Alright. Festival and dinner,” he said. The more they spoke the more they sounded like–
She pulled him by the arm and away from the kitchen. “Well what are you waiting for, move it.” She pushed him into his room. “Hurry up, we’ve got places to be.”
He’d thrown on a regular blue shirt with dark brown pants. And pulled his hair into a low wolf tail. “What a pair we are,” she said.
“I’m actually the luckiest person alive.”
“And don't you forget it.”
They're both 20 when they need a place to stay in a small town in the Western Earth Kingdom
Kavik wasn’t sure how they ended up like this.
“You can just share the bed with me,” she said. He was certain his brain had broken. A snap in the stem that held it together.
“But–”
“And if you mention anything about me being a Nun, save it.” She made her way to the bathroom where she spent the next twenty minutes.
This isn't happening. She emerged from the room with steam surrounding her, her wrist moving in circular motion bringing about a breeze to dry her hair. She was barefoot and …showing the most skin he’d ever seen of her. Outside of wounds from battles and that one time this was the most he’d seen.
Her blue tattoos snaked around her arms and legs as she wore a pair of shorts and …one of his shirts. His left eye twitched. She must have seen his face, looking down at herself she gave him a sheepish smile. “My sleepwear was set on fire, so I hope you wouldn't mind.”
Not at all. “Well you need to sleep in something,” he replied. His face was as stern as stone wanting to give no indication that he felt any kind of way about it. But maybe indifference wasn’t the feeling to showcase.
His shower was much longer than hers. Yes, he was stalling but he really didn’t know what to do with himself. They’d been together for years at this point, but not like that.
They were partners. Best friends. He was her companion, her most trusted person. And she was…everything. In the most literal sense of the word she was the world woven down to a single entity. But he knew she loved being just Yangchen when it was just the two of them.
He put on a brave face and walked out of the bathroom where Yangchen sat cross legged on the bed combing through her dark long hair. “You should cut it soon,” he said. He wasn't sure why he said it but he didn’t know what else to say.
“Sure, when you cut yours,” she teased.
“I’m not due for a cut yet I think,” he replied. She gave him a knowing look. “It’s been a couple months since I cut your hair, you do well enough to let me cut it again soon.”
“And then I cut yours?”
She snorted, her gray eyes meeting his. “If it were up to me, not a chance. But I can't think of many people in the area that would be willing to cut the Avatar's precious hair.”
“They might think it's a bad omen,” he joked. She laughed and it sounded like a thousand charm bells ringing. Yangchen shook her head, “I’ll just wait then. I’ll just wait.”
Taking a seat on the bed the complete opposite side of where Yamgchen sat, he rubbed a towel over his head in an attempt to dry it and waterbended any of the remaining water off him. “You didn’t pick a bad place to stay.” He looked around the room, it wasn’t the worst place they’d ever stayed in but she wanted to maintain the fact that she was here from the locals.
So when the Innkeeper saw a young man and woman at her front desk, she smiled sweetly at them thinking they were a young couple.
Yangchen wrapped her arm around his and raised her voice up three extra octaves. “Yes!” she said. “We’ve been married for two weeks.”
He leaned his head down on hers and smiled. “We’re just passing by, on our way back home,” he said. The longer they spend time together the easier it is to follow any kind of identity Yangchen throws at him. They’ve mostly only played as friends or lovers.
“Congratulations!” the woman beamed. “You two have a good time during your stay in our town.”
“Thank you!” they both said.
His hair was completely dry, or at least he thought it was till he felt a breeze behind him. Yangchen had pushed a soft gust of wind towards his direction, he raised an eyebrow at her.
“I can tell it's not dry yet,” she explained. She made herself comfortable behind him, running her fingers through his hair as she conducted wind through it. He could feel the rhythm of her breathing as she made her way through his head. “Who's the waterbender here?”
She snorted. “Both of us. I will not sleep on a bed with wet hair and you won't get sick by going to bed with wet hair if I can help it,” she said firmly. “And for the record, I would say I’m a bit better than you are at it.”
He ignored her last comment. “I could always sleep on the floor,” he offered.
She grabbed him by the shirt. “Don't be ridiculous. I told you to drop that ‘Nun’ thing.”
“It’s…not that.”
“Then what's your problem?” she chided. She crossed her arms over her chest and Kavik made sure to focus his eyes on her face, the arrow between her eyebrows. “Out with it.”
“You’re a girl.” She looked at him like the candle light turned on. “A really pretty girl,” he continued. “And a Nun. And the Avatar.” Her face was slightly red from embarrassment but he kept on going anyway. “And sleeping in the same bed as not just a girl but someone who's all that, is kind of scary.”
“I’m not scary.”
He grinned. “Well—“
“Not to you.”
“No. Maybe at first.” He turned his entire body onto the bed, crossing his legs. They both sat across from each other with very little distance, he could reach out with his arm and flick her in the forehead…or something else.
“Alright,” she paused. “What if I ask you to sleep on the bed?
He sighed, “I would decline and ask to sleep on the floor.”
“But why?” Her tone was just above a whisper and snapped like a whip. It was how she sounded when she was tired of going in circles during her meetings.
“Because,” he swallowed. “I can’t.” She nodded slowly and suddenly stopped. She gasped and brought her hands to her mouth. “This whole time?”
“I wouldn’t say ‘this whole time’ but…a while,” he reasoned.
She laughed. “Why didn't you just tell me? I would’ve understood. But instead I have to play a guessing game.” She moved to the other side of the bed, widening the distance between them. She lifted the sheets and slid into them. “Why didn't you just say you had feelings for another girl?” She picked up her brush and started coming through her hair once more. On the side table of the bed was a stack of scrolls, no doubt she intended to read all of them before going to bed.
Ugh. He dropped his head in his hands. “There is no other girl. It's just you!” He froze at the admission. Was it an admission?
“I figured. You wouldn’t have time for any of that.” Her gray eyes met his blue. She smiled gently, “Y’know...I only have you too. So let's just try it.”
“Try?” He felt hot, a rarity for him having been used to the warmer climates of the Earth Kingdom.
“Well yes. I’ve known you for years and we’re basically married in all ways but official.” She put her comb down and picked up her first scroll.
His stomach lept. “Did you just–did you just propose to me?”
She raised her eyebrow at him. “Well I don't exactly have a betrothal necklace to give you. Or was I supposed to get a betrothal armband?”
“Wait,” he said. “Can you get married? Can the Avatar get married?” He felt a strong gust of wind meet his face. “Don’t be ridiculous. Of course we can. Plenty of my past lives have gotten married and started families and plenty of them will in the future.”
He felt strange whenever she mentioned the future as a place she won't be in. But she’s here now.
‘Now’ was what counted. “What do you guys do in Air Nomad culture?”
She pondered for a moment. “It depends on the couple. Typically they are free to court however they like. We don’t need rings or armbands or necklaces. Some people that marry from other nations typically just do what their partner wants. It all depends.”
Kavik thought of this for a moment. Thinking of designs for a necklace for her, waves and air symbols, the oceans meeting the sky. He just needed to ask. “Would you want a necklace?”
She froze and flexed her hands, the side of her mouth curled up. He crossed the distance between them and sat before her. “For a long time I knew that I was going to have to give myself in service to the world. I was put on the world stage for all to see and judge.”
He nodded in understanding. This was something that he had to learn first hand. A front row seat to The Daily Life of Yangchen.
“This is the first time I would willingly give myself to another person,” she said. He could feel the turning of his stomach both in anticipation and admiration. She shook her head, “I don't want a necklace. I don’t want anybody to have this part of me. Or know it.”
He reached for her hand, something he’d done so many times and made small circles around her knuckles. He laced his fingers through hers, recalling one of their first meetings. He wondered if she could feel the rate of his heartbeat through their touch.
“Clouds,” he said after giving it some thought.
“Hm?”
“The armband. Clouds. It should have clouds on it.” She let out a breathy laugh covering her mouth. He tugged on her arm closing the distance between them and she wrapped her arms around his neck causing him to fall on his back, “Woah!”.
She hovered over him, both of her legs tattooed in blue straddling him on each side. He held her by the waist as her hair cascaded over her shoulder and blocked his view of anything else but her.
She leaned down and pressed his lips onto his. “Air and water,” she said, understanding his request.
The perfect combination of the elements.
He grinned like a fool. “What a pair we are.”