Dinner couldn't come any closer for Leia. To keep herself busy, she acquainted herself with the acolytes while trying to understand what was written on a newspaper she'd gotten her hands on. After that, she tried looking for something that could make herself feel more comfortable when laying down on the stone bed she was provided with. She heard once thst this type of bed was actually good for ones back, but all she wanted was a comfortable place to rest her meaty head. She tried to lay on it in different positions, but somehow, nothing could work. She ended up settling for a hammock her parents packed for her and set the woven net down on the stone, ready to be hung later.

She then felt for her left shoulder, touching the part she knew she had wounded earlier that day and was glad to find out that it was no longer painful. Reaching her bandages through the opening of her tunic on her chest, she pulled at it and felt the wrapping on her arm loosen and unravel. Once she pulled the strip of cloth out, she raised her left sleeve to look at it, pleased to see there wasn't a trace of the wound.

Leia sat on the stone bed for a moment, thinking of what else to do. She only had an hour left before the assigned dinner time. Counting through her options, she looked at her hands which were placed at her lap with her palms facing up. For a moment, she simply stared at her palms before standing up and leading herself outside.

She found a spot next to the water with barely any foliage and looked at the horizon just in time to see the sun start to set. Colors that Leia wasn't used to seeing paint the sky made themselves prominent. Purple, pink, and orange danced around a border of blue as they parade the sun which was starting to disappear slowly.

Leia stood there and quickly looked around her. No one was in sight. She hated bending in front of people she didn't know. She knew Aang knew she was a waterbender, so probably Tenzin knew too, but she didn't want to use it beyond healing. However, she becomes a hypocrite maybe once or twice a month wherein she spends her time wielding her blood like a sword and fights off imaginary villains. It made her feel powerful, but she relents that maybe it was just because of the moon.

She takes a stance, shakes her arms out and draws water from in front of her. She does a series of motions, doing a warmup routine she'd established under Katara's supervision, before letting the water climb up her arms and clung to the whole length of them. The tendrils weren't really her thing, but Katara wanted to see if she could do it. Leia was never one to back down from finding out, so as soon as the words left her sifu's mouth, Leia started to work on it.

At first, she had to let the water climb up through her feet and the rest of her body before the water reached her arms and flailed like an octopus. With a few more tries, all she needed was for water to wrap around her upper torso and then her tendrils were much more manageable. Come late summer, she simply needed to wrap them around the whole length of her arm much like she did now and let it climb up to her shoulders so the tendrils were easier to control.

With her water-arm extensions, she quickly got to work and aimed at whatever she could find as a target. She blasted at trees, rocks, and simply the air. Then, when she was bored with that, she the water from her hands form a frozen scythe that towered a few feet above her. She froze it because she couldn't quite do what she did with blood wherein it was solid but not frozen. Leia theorizes that it was easier to have blood stay in the semi solid-liquid state due to it not being purely water, having a mix of proteins and organic matter that had stronger affinity to one another. Although, the advantage of using water to make these solidified weapons is that it would take less time and effort to shape them.

Leia's current scythe had a slick blade unlike the very first one she tried forming with her own blood. Taking her scythe, Leia slashed at the air, wanting more than ever to have someone to practice with. At some point, she lost focus and accidentally let her scythe melt into water. Seeing this happen, Leia's brain formulated an idea and picked the water back up, gathering it to a blob.

If a water bender can freeze and unfreeze water at will, this means they have the ability to manipulate temperature. Leia knows Katara had taught her waterbending in the same aspect she had learned how: a spiritual aspect. In order to freeze water, you had to visualize ice and move like it: hard and sudden, in order to melt it, visualize it flowing openly and try copying its movements: flowing, pushing and pulling. Say, if you were to consider the physical properties of water, Leia starts, and look at it's individual particles, it is moving and vibrating, much like that of a bell when rung, due to the amount of kinetic energy it currently holds, which translates to the temperature of the water. Take some of that kinetic energy away, the particles will move slower, the water will get colder, and...

The blob of water was now solid ice floating atop her palm.

She stared at it for a moment before letting it melt back into its liquid for and threw it back into the bay.

Leia started to walk back in the direction of her room, with her mind wandering as always. She did a mental recap of all the things that occured today and when she reached the part wherein Tenzin mentioned that Bumi wasn't a bender, the ever-turning gears in her head made themselves known once more. She knows that the world is yet to discover the definite pattern behind the passing down of the ability of elements, but it occurs to her, what if I try? Surely, the world wasn't far from finding out. The newspaper Leia had read mentioned something about someone named Mendel and flowers.

"Are you lost, kid?" A stern voice interrupted her thoughts. It was strong, a bit husky and rough, but feminine. Leia racked her brain of any memory of an acolyte sounding like that. None of them do. They were always gentle and soft.

"I said," a hand grabbed onto Leia's shoulder and forced her to turn around to the source of the voice which sounded like the most hostile one she'd ever heard in her life, "are you lost?"

Leia's blue eyes met with the brightest most vibrant set of green eyes she had ever seen. From the angle she was at, she could see the person's whole face in detail. Pale skin that looked like it would be so soft if touched, brows furrowed in annoyance, high-set cheek bones, a lightly scrunched up nose, a pair of two dark lines at the side of her face, and pink lips that remind Leia of the cherry-blossoms she always had wished to see if she had the chance fo travel to the Fire Nation. If Leia wasn't so preoccupied by the fear of having to deal with a potential criminal, she would've stepped closer and looked the woman in the eyes intensely and compliment her, you're pretty. Unfortunately, this wasn't the case, and with the skills ingrained to her by her sifu, along with the arm opposite the one whose shoulder was being gripped, she summoned water from the bay and hit the figure in front of her, successfully causing them to let go of Leia's shoulder.

The person was thrown onto the ground to the left of Leia and groaned in pain. Leia was about to book it, not wanting to stay in the presence of a potential criminal whom she was very sure at this point was an actual criminal, when she heard the unmistakeable voice of Tenzin running towards the direction their direction, "Lin!"

Eyes wide and terror-stricken, Leia watched in shock as Tenzin ran to his significant other's side. The wet figure was laid on their side and Tenzin helps them sit up, not minding that his robes were now slightly wet as well.

"What were you thinking, Leia!?" Tenzin now shouts at her and the figure beside him had their eyes directed at Leia as well, in the form of a sharp glare.

Leia couldn't move nor speak, for the first time in a while, having no actual explanation she could come up with. Her mind was blank, because across from her, sat on the ground in set of wet clothes, was the renowned Chief of Police, Lin Beifong.

-

They were in the her bedroom. Leia silently tended to Lin's side as the older woman stared daggers at her. Leia could feel every bit of the malice this woman had for her and just accepted it. She deserved it.

Lin's clothes and whole body was already dry, the water being bent away by Leia and then consequently dried by Tenzin.

Leia had her eyes glued to the glowing water as she performed the last portion of her healing. It was the side that landed on the hard ground of the island. Leia almost praised herself. She could be quite the waterbender when acting under fear. However, given the circumstances, that wasn't the most promising course of action.

"Uh," Leia tried to speak and dark haired woman's head immediately snapped to look at her, causing Leia to waver slightly and gulp. Mustering courage, Leia tried to look the woman in the eye and was met with her piercing gaze. It wasn't a glare anymore. But, it was a stare that was meant to intimidate. Leia knew about this but still felt small under the scrutiny of Lin's eyes. Leia looked away and continued to focus on her task instead.

"I'm sorry for attacking you. Believe me when I say I regret it," Leia saw Lin's brow raise at the corner of her eye, " and I ask you to believe me once again that I didn't mean to and was... involuntary."

Leia simply wanted to bury herself in a hole and vanish from the face of the earth, never to be seen again. She wonders if Lin would grant her that favor.

Both were silent for a while and Leia finishes up, leading the water to various points on Lin's body to do a general sweep of her vitals, before drawing the water out and onto a bowl.

Now left with nothing else to do, Leia looked down at the floorboards, eager to get everything done with.

"You..." Lin started quietly, but Leia wasn't fooled. This was going to be a roast and Lin's voice will have been loud enough to cause an earthquake.

"You blast me with your waterbending without warning, apologize, then ask me to believe that you didn't do it on purpose? How stupid do you think I am?" Lin exclaimed, standing up and grabbing Leia by the collar. She proceeds to raise the teen high enough from the ground that her feet dangle a couple of inches.

"I don't!" Leia chokes out, her hands quick to grab onto the muscular arms of the woman holding her up. Leia thinks she must've looked pathetic, with her lanky figure simply being dragged off the ground and her terror-filled eyes that had tears threatening to spill out.

Leia blinked a few times, trying to get a grip, but a few tears spilled over and she knew she was done for. "I seriously didn't mean it! I was s-scared! I didn't know who you were and you sounded so threatening! No one ever talked to me like that before. When you held onto my shoulder and-and fl-flipped me around, it just got worse-"

Leia stopped speaking when she realized that her feet were touching the ground once more.

Being a cop, Lin was used to seeing guilty people ramble excuses just to get off scott-free. Along with that, she learned how to differentiate the liars from the genuinely innocent. It wasn't the most accurate at times but the moment she heard the girl mutter the words "I was scared", she immediatetly recognized the terror in the teens tearful eyes and made. No criminal ever admit something like that. Only a child would.

Guilt settled in Lin's gut upon seeing the girl's expression of shock paired with the tears that were still running down the sides of her face. Crap.

Luckily, Leia seemed to snap from her daze and stepped back from Lin, immediately proceeding to bow the lowest she has seen anyone bow to her.

"I'm really sorry! Please, let me make it up to you!" Leia exclaimed, trying to stop any more tears from coming out. This is embarassing. You tackle one of the most admirable people in the world unprovoked and then cry in front of her like a baby? What are you, seven?

"I'm sorry for scaring you."

Leia furrowed her eyebrows and rose up from her bow to see the Chief of Police looking somewhat irritated and forlorn at the same time. Then, Leia remembers what Lin had said and immediately reassures her, "No, please. You have nothing to apologize for. I wasn't thinking properly and I overreacted." Then, Leia was back to normal, "Actually, I think the reason I acted that way was probably due to the new environment. I've seen a study about culture shock that had students from-"

"Could you not? I was here for dinner, not a lecture," Lin interrupted, annoyance quickly coming back. She quickly put back on her top which had to be removed in order for Leia to attend to her could-have-been bruises, fixed her hair a bit and left the room, not looking back. Leia quickly followed after her.

-

Dinner was a fairly alright affair. They were all seated around a table in a dining area thar was exclusively for the Aang's family. On one side of the table, Tenzin and Lin sat beside each other while Leia sat quietly next to Aang.

Tenzin and Lin both pointedly ignored Leia. Well, Lin more than Tenzin. Tenzin at least acknowledges her presence. Despite only having known him for a few hours, Leia was sure he would come around. He was just really upset she had blasted his girlfriend down. Lin just downright pretended she didn't exist and Leia was fine with that. She'd prefer that over her green eyes glaring at her 24/7. Aang was a dear. He didn't know what to do with the sudden silence of his newest guest since she was quite the talkative person during lunch. So, he tried to start conversations. Keyword: tried. Tenzin humored his father and exchanged a few quips from Lin but that was as far as they dare go.

Aang was in the middle of telling the story of one of his adventures leading up to the defeat of Ozai when Leia tapped at his shoulder.

"Yes, Leia?" Aang prompted, glad that the girl was at least initiating communication. All heads turn to her.

"May I be excused?" None of the food presented in front of her had been touched.

Aang deflated at her question but agreed nonetheless, knowing there was nothing he could do to change her mind.

-

Leia was pacing back and forth on the roof of one of the compound's many main buildings.

Wow I really ruined everything, didn't I? I shouldn't be a bender if I end up beating up everyone I meet! This is why I should've just stayed at home. Why did I even think this was a good idea?

"You just had to screw it up. Everything was going fine! My interaction with Aang was okay, the trip to university was amazing, I befriended Tenzin, and then I just had to blast some really cold water at his pretty, strong, powerful girlfriend who happens to be the Chief of Police! Ugh, for someone so smart, Telly, you do a lot of nonsense," Leia rants to herself out loud. She took a seat and sighed. She proceeded to look up at the nightsky.

Welp, we can't all be winners.

Leia stood up, wanting to go to her bedroom, temporarily forget about today's regrets and sleep it all off. However, destiny said "today's your lucky day!" and decided to make Leia loose her balance and slip off the edge of the roof.

As Leia's face neared the paved ground of the garden, she accepted her painful fate with a small shout of "really!?" and tried to maneauver herself in such a way that her body would hit the ground and leave the incident with minimal injuries. It happened once when she tried to sneak into the library at the south pole. Her mother didn't let her out of her sight for a full month after that. She wondered if she ended up dying, her parents would simply resort to her incident a year ago and explain it how they'd always interpretted it. Leia hated that thought.

The ground got closer and closer and Leia was expecting a crunch to emanate from her body and for pain to just erupt everywhere. What she did not expect, however, was the sound of something similar to a metal cable snapping towards her and the sensation of having a thick wire wrap around her waist and prevent her from continuing her descent, a slight pain errupting from her abdomen.

With her chest facing down, nearly two feet above the ground, and eyes wide open, Leia looked at her waist and saw the metal cables hugging onto it. She winced once she realized that's where her abdominal pain came from and looked over her shoulder. She saw the cable go up from her back and traced it up to a figure leaning out of the second floor window.

Leia's eyes widened as she stared at Lin who had her left hand outstretched and a cable seemingly wrapped around it. Metal cables? Snaking around her waist? She metalbent. Lin Beifong metalbent to save me from my fall.

Leia's thoughts of the older woman were cut short as she saw the cable suddenly slip through Lin's hand and let Leia fall the rest of the way. Her chest comes in contact with the ground and the air was momentarily knocked out from her lungs before she ground and rolled over to her back, eyes closing as she grunted. Yep, I deserved that. She felt the wires untangle themselves from her waist and heard a second snapping sound followed by a thud right next to her.

Leia opened her eyes and saw the same green eyes that invoked terror in her just a few hours ago. Lin had a hand on her hip and looked at Leia with a scowl.

Leia sat up and coughed, looking up to Lin like a child. "Was that payback?" she asked with a rasp in her voice, obviously still quite winded from the impact.

"Yes," Lin simply replied, still sporting the same expression.

"Thanks for slowing me down, though. Gravity sucks sometimes," Leia added with a blush, feeling foolish for having caused so much trouble towards a woman she looked up to and smiled up at Lin for the first time.

The older woman's face softened a little upon seeing Leia smile at her for the first time. Tenzin's right. This kid's a ball of sunshine. She sighed and crossed her arms over her chest.

"I'm sorry for scaring you a while ago. Thought you were some bandit or riffraff. Lots of people like to storm Air Temple Island," Lin explained and Leia nods in understanding.

"No worries. I get it. Being the Chief of Police means you're basically looking out for the whole city. That's a lot of responsibility," Leia said and made the impromptu decision to lay back down on the dusty ground. She put her arms out and, though she struggled, called out water from the atmosphere which was relatively easy due to the humid bay air.

"So you know who I am," Lin said, surprised. She also warily eyed the water Leia had seemingly bent from nowhere.

The young girl let the water coat the palms of her hand and proceeded to partially numb the pain at her abdomen while she talked. "Who wouldn't? I mean I didn't recognize you right away. But with Tenzin calling out your name plus him informing me of you coming over for dinner, it isn't hard to piece things together." Her pretty green eyes were quite a giveaway as well, but Leia would never admit that out loud.

Leia sat back up and flicked away the water at her hands, the pain at her waist just about gone. "Besides, there aren't many Lin Beifong's in the world. I know the South Pole's a pretty secluded area, but even the most basic news of Republic City reaches it. Your reputation proceeds you. You're terrifying, yeah, but I'm glad the city's safety rests in your hands. Only the Spirits would know what would happen if it comes to the hands of some daft, stuck-up, butt-kissing bloke."

Leia did not miss the way the corners of Lin's mouth curled up slightly. She stood up and came face to face with the woman she so haphazardly blasted the last time she faced her like this. It was nice not having her glare daggers at Leia.

"I'm really sorry again for blasting you. This," she mentioned at her current state due to the fall, "is barely anything to make up for it. I definitely don't blame you if you absolutely hate me. If you must know, I was actually looking forward to meeting you and I just blew it. Not to further stroke your ego or anything, but I look up to you very much."

Lin's response was a simple scowl and a shake of her head before turning around to leave, "Just go to bed, kid."

"It's Leia," the waterbender called out before Lin could take another step. "You can call me that. I'm sorry we started off on the wrong foot."

Lin simply looked over her right shoulder, giving Leia a perfect view of the pair of scars that poke out from the side of her jaw. She thought they looked cool.

"So you want a clean slate?" Lin sneered.

"No," Leia replied, a cheeky grin forming in her lips. "I kinda like the idea of me being constantly threatened by your presence. It'll keep me on my toes and in line." Leia meant that both as a joke and as the truth. Her rationality and morality were chiding her and pounding at her temples, questioning what the heck she was doing.

Lin was shocked at the girl's answer and for a moment her eyes widened. As quick as the moment started, it ended. She rolled her eyes and proceeded to make her way in the direction of the bison stables.

"Hope you get home safe, Chief Lin Beifong!"

Leia smiled as she called out, laughing and cringing internally at herself. That was such a dumb joke. You told the Chief of Police to get home safe. What an absolute joke.

-

The day came when Leia started her summer classes. Leia was right when Tenzin would soon come around and start talking to her. She apologized for the incident with his lady friend and explained that the two of them had somehow made up.

"When are you gonna ask her?" Leia asked as she looked down at the city and had her head over the edge of the saddle seated atop Tenzin's bison, Oogi. After her first ride with Aang on Appa, she was quite adamant that she wouldn't try flying again. But with Aang going on an official trip to Council Hall for an official meeting, the car was reserved for his use for the day, leaving Leia no choice but to ride on one of their Sky Bison. Surpringly enough, it was a relatively calm ride and her stomach didn't react much. Leia suspected that the reason she felt so sick the first time she flew was because she had been sailing for 3 days straight prior.

"What?" Tenzin responded, genuinely confused.

"I was talking about Chief Lin Beifong. When are you gonna ask her to formally be your girlfriend?" Leia clarified with a knowing smile, now looking at the monk holding onto the reigns of Oogi.

Tenzin's face reddened upon her question. "Uh, I don't know. I'm still not entirely sure she's into all of that- that girlfriend-boyfriend stuff. I'm not even sure if she really likes me that way. For all I know this is something casual."

Leia thought about what he said for a moment before asking, "How long have you known each other?"

The look on Tenzin's face changed, a soft expression taking over as he answered, "My whole life." The girl had now turned her whole body towards his, showing interest in what he was saying urging him to expound upon it.

Tenzin explained that given the close and unquestionable friendship of Aang and Toph, it was almost expected that their children were to exhibit something similar. Toph often let both Lin and her second daughter Suyin a lot of freedom, so naturally, Lin and Suyin hung around quite often with Tenzin and his siblings. Given that Tenzin and Lin were basically the same age, their birthdays being only months apart, they had one of the most tightly-knit bonds among all of them. Aang and Katara adored Lin and Suyin almost as much as their own children. Toph's opinion of the Avatar's kids wasn't nearly as endearing but one could tell she was fond of the three.

"You were childhood sweethearts! That's so cute," Leia said, her the twinkle in her eyes making its presence known once again. She had her hands cupping her cheeks as she looked at Tenzin intently.

"You think so?" Tenzin asked, his face now fully flushed due to the storytelling and overwhelming amount of details about his experiences together with his childhood companion.

"Miss Lin Beifong sounds so sweet as a friend. I'm guessing it's a side she doesn't show often in front of people she isn't close to?" Leia asked, sounding a bit sad that she was missing out on experiencing this side of the green-eyed woman. I mean I did almost kill her when I first saw her.

"Unfortunately so," Tenzin sighed, not missing the sad tone in Leia's words.

"So?"

"'So?' what?"

"So why are you so adamant at the possibility that she'd disagree to the whole girlfriend thing?" Leia asked, seeming very confused, not seeing the man's problem. "You've been through a lot together, and probably will go through a lot more in the future. You've known each other for so long. If you asking her to be your girlfriend compromises your relationship, I'm sure you're quick to get over it since you guys have been friends for so long. You basically have nothing to lose. I may not know her as long as you have, but I know she'd rather you tell your concerns to her directly without beating around the bush."

Leia quickly did a backtrack with her words, "Of course, just putting a disclaimer out there that I am in no way experienced with relationships. Also putting in there that these are just probable circumstances. On the event you choose to actually ask her, there's no guarantee she would answer any of the fixed possibilities you've conjured up in your head, so there's that."

"Oh, and finally," Leia stated, seeing Tenzin's unnerved expression, "my last and favorite piece of advise and main principle: It doesn't hurt to ask."

Tenzin frowned, thinking about all that Leia had said.

The teen noticed this and supplied, "Then again, you know her better than I do. It's your choice on what course of action to take if any."

The monk was still in thought, also considering her additional phrase. Leia sighed and looked away from Tenzin, noting the buildings that all seemed to be miniature from the altitude they were at.

Suddenly, Oogi made a sharp turn and that almost made Leia fall off if not for her grip on tbe saddle.

"Monkeyfeathers, Tenzin!? What's with the sudden U-turn?" Leia shouted at the monk, gripping tightly at the saddle.

"I'm gonna ask Lin to be my girlfriend! I think you're right, Leia. There's no harm in asking. If she rejects me, then I'll take it! It'll maybe hurt a bit but I'll be fine!" Tenzin responded, a crazed smile atop his face.

Leia thought this was terrific. "That's great. But, really, right now?"

"Yeah! Weren't you the one who said it? What better time to do it if not now?"

Leia wanted to smack the man's shiny head. "Can you do it maybe after you drop me off at uni? I'm gonna be late!"

"Oh, right."

-

Leia hoped she didn't send Tenzin out on a suicide mission. Basing off of her interaction with the woman, she had quite the volatile personality and a strong temper. However, if Tenzin comes face to face with the version of Lin he talked so sweetly about, Leia thinks he'd be fine.

However, thoughts of Tenzin and Lin were currently at the sidelines of her mind as she listened intently to her teacher currently talking about the parts of a contraption she'd only seen in books before: a microsope. They were currently at one of the many laboratories of the universtity. Her mentor was a guy named San. He was about to start his last year of university. His assigned subject to teach was Chemistry. Since he was her first class on the sciences and she had known nearly nothing about laboratory etiquette, he had taken the liberty to teach her the basic principles and regulations.

"And these," San pointed at a disk with a bunch of telescope-like looking pieces that he was able to spin near the area where a sample slide was to be placed, "are the objectives." Leia perked up. Oh, I remember reading about that.

"Do you know what they are?" He prompted and Leia nodded, happy to finally get to answer him with anything other than a pitiful shake of the head, a frown, or a 'no, sorry'.

"They're the lenses with different magnification levels, if I remember correctly. Scanning, low-power, high-power, and oil immersion," Leia responded with a bit of uncertainty but with a smile nonetheless. San smiled at the teen.

"Correct. Now, I want you to try and name the part of the microscope I'll point at."

He began Leia's test and she answered each question effortlessly, save for a pair of parts she switched the names of.

"Excellent!" San exclaimed, a awe-struck glint in his eye. "Wow, Leia! For someone who hasn't had any prior education on this subject, you're quite good. You learn fast."

Leia's smile grew bigger. "Thanks!"

That's always been the case for Leia, no matter the subject. However, she also noticed the way she became much more quick at processing new information when she trained under Katara.

Leia's expression grew soft upon remembrance of the woman. It had only been a week since she'd left Katara's compound in the South Pole but she couldn't help but miss her dearly. For a full year before her departure, she'd spent morning, noon, and night with Katara.

"I guess you could attribute that to my training under Master Katara. I used to be much slower in retaining information, but it improved greatly when I was under her care," she added as an afterthought.

San's expression shifted into one of shock. "You trained under Katara? You're a waterbender!?"

Leia eyes widened at his outburst, matching San's own widened eyes. She nodded. "Yeah, I am! What's up with it?"

San settled down and coughed to gather himself. "It's just," he started, a frown on his lips, "I haven't met any benders who are interested in studying in RCU. You see, if I'm not mistaken, all students who have enrolled here ever since it was established are non-benders. I think it has something to do with the mentality that benders only need to master their own bending and they're good to go." San's tone and expression turned bitter as he said his last sentence.

Leia's brows furrowed upon hearing this. "Well, that's unfortunate for them. I, for one, think bending should have nothing to do with your want to learn new stuff."  Then, Leia's crease on her forehead grew deeper, "I think that over time, benders have been taught that to master their element is their fundamental main goal in life. Being a master is basically the crown jewel of a bender's journey. A lot of them probably have been discriminated for learning other things like other ways of fighting because why would you want to do that when you've mastered your element? Benders have been ingrained with the principle that mastery over anything else proves you failed mastering your own element. So, maybe it's society's fault that we're like this."

San raised a brow upon Leia's declaration. "That's quite the statement. And I guess you don't believe in what the society established on benders seeing as you're one and about to study at RCU?"

Leia nodded, a determined look on her face. "I don't give a single damn." She smiled.

San smiled back. "How old did you say you were again?"

Leia's smile grew wideer. "I didn't. I'm 16."

-

Leia exited through the big fancy doors of the university with a stack of books in front of her chest, supported by her arms, and bunch of other books that were currently inside a backpack the desk lady Jihyo had leant her.

She had two other subjects that she dealt with today: Biology, and Math. Biology was handled by a nice goofy lady named Ms. Yoo Jeongyeon and quite the geeky guy sharing her enthusiasm in learning was her Physics instructor, a guy named Haku.

All three of her teachers today had given reading assignments, thus giving her a reason to go to the Republic City University's renowned library, or as Leia likes to call it, knowledge sanctuary. Her time at the library was cut short when Jihyo the desk lady thought she was taking so long. She found the teen in the section of the university's most prized manuscripts and quickly ushered her to get all that she needed, telling her that Tenzin was here to fetch her.

She had a skip in her step despite the weight of the books she was carrying. Tenzin seemed to be in a good mood as well when he approached her, helping Leia out with the books in her arms.

"Someone's in a good mood," Tenzin remarked with an unusual glimmer of happiness in his eye. They loaded all of her stuff onto Oogi's saddle and got ready to take off

"I could say the same about you. What's the news, loverboy?" Leia quipped, giving him a nudge on his side in a teasing manner. A grin alongside a blush was all she received from Tenzin and she knew it right away.

Tenzin made Oogi take off as Leia squealed in delight.

"Oh, my stars! That's wonderful, Tenzin!"

Tenzin's grin grows bigger. "When I got to the station, I asked for her immediately. She thought it was something urgent. I mean it kind of was. I started with a bit of rambling but I eventually got straight to the point. She was annoyed for a second before realizing what I had asked her. She looked so pissed when she grabbed me by my collar, a-and..."

Leia could see the tips of Tenzin's ear become redder by the second. "And!?"

"And she told me I was stupid and k-kissed me." Tenzin was now fully red.

Leia's delighted squeals filled the opened air as Oogi led them through the city atmosphere. Tenzin continued on, still red in the face, telling her about how Lin said yes after the kiss and how they agreed on dinner tonight in one of Lin's favorite fancy restaurants.

Leia provided Tenzin with her own details of why she was in a good mood as well. The two continued to exchange stories until they were at Air Temple Island. When they landed, Tenzin proceeded to get ready for his date while Leia decided she'd write letters to her family and Master Katara.

She detailed all of the events this past week: meeting the Avatar and his son, getting into university, getting to ride sky bison, the unconventional scenario  surrounding her first time meeting the Chief of Police, as well as her first day at summer class.

She asked an acolyte to possibly give her directions and landmarks of how to get to the post office from the dock but the acolyte insisted to be the one to send the letter so as not to inconvenience her. Leia argued that it was fine is she did it herself, saying that this could also be a way for her to familiarize herself with the city but gave up once she noticed how insistent the acolyte was. The letter was brought to the post office and another acolyte announced that it was time for dinner.

She passed by Tenzin who looked rather dashing in an altered version of his air-nomad robes that were made to look more casual. He was on his way to the Sky Bison stables.

"Have fun tonight!" She called out enthusiastically and Tenzin responded with an equally joyous, "I will!"

She spent dinner with the acolytes since both Aang and Tenzin had things to attend to. She didn't mind as was glad to still have company despite the two airbenders' absence.

She excused herself and went to her room. She plopped herself onto a chair paired with a desk she was provided with a few nights prior and proceeded to take a textbook from her school backpack. She hummed in delight as she turned to flip the book to an assigned page, indulging in her own version of fun for the night.