Four months after her arrival in the city, Leia got a job as a waitress in a humble 24 hour operating diner. A few months more and she'd be able to move out of the temple and into a modest rental she was able to find. She had also started proper schooling two months ago, quickly establishing her status as a student who didn't fool around with her studies. She chose a course on Microbiology and chose electives specializing in Biochemistry - a decision greatly influenced by her affinity to two summer class teachers, Mr. San and Ms. Jeongyeon. Both of whom were currently seated beside her as they ate lunch, along with Ms. Jihyo who turned out to simply volunteer for the desk job because her girlfriend didn't want to stay at the university the whole summer without a companion.

"So, how's your calculus project going, T?" Jeongyeon asked as she bit into a piece of pork wrapped in lettuce.

Leia took a sip of her drink and responded, "It's going well, I think. The whole modeling aspect behind it is so cool. Who knew staring at a fly on the ceiling would eventually lead to stuff like that?"

San cringed from beside her. "That's math for 'ya. Always makes things complicated," San spoke up with a shudder, expressing his obvious distaste for the subject.

"Complicated for you," Jihyo scoffed, rolling her eyes at the boy younger than her by a few months. "Jeong and I seemed to do just fine, and it seems Leia does, too."

"Hey! You calling me stupid, 'Know-it-all' Park?" San asked, narrowing his eyes at the girl.

Jihyo smirked, knowing she had gotten through his skin. "You tell me, Mr. 'Second-in-Class'-Choi."

And with that, Jihyo and San partook in a bickering session while Jeongyeon and Leia simply continued eating, watching the fight unfold in front of them. This was a normal occurrence for them. When Leia first witnessed a fight break out between the two, Jeongyeon explained that Jihyo and San were always at each other's throats when it came to being the top of each class they shared.

Through the eyes of many, the situation may seem strange. A freshman seated with a couple of graduating seniors. All the parties involved in the scene don't seem to mind. Leia was just glad she had someone to talk to.

-

After lunch, Leia made her way to the restroom, tied her now shoulder-length hair and splashed some water in her face to be refreshed for the second half of her day. She only had four hours left before she left school and started her shift at the diner.

She was finishing up and fixing her little hygiene kit when she heard someone else enter.

"Well if it isn't water-girl?" A sickly sweet voice sounded through the tiled walls followed by two sets of giggles, letting Leia know that there were now a total of four people in the bathroom, including herself.

Leia remained silent to the first nudge, turning on the faucet one more time just to wash off the powder she had on her hands.

"Aw, no bending? What a shame, I came all this way and you won't even put on a show."

That made Leia turn her head to look at the person speaking. With hair as big as the campus itself and manicured nails as long as her eyebrows, the source of the voice stood in front of her with a knowing smirk. Leia knew who this person was and she knew she was stating facts when she states this in her mind: this girl was a bitch.

Leia returned to fixing up the contents in her small bag and held onto it with one of her hands, ready to leave while the woman behind her kept talking.

"Come on, not even a little bit? Are you scared it's not good enough? Maybe that is the case since you came here. You're too weak to even master your own bending so you study to compensate for that."

"I'd be careful if I were you. She has the ability to blast you girls across the hall," a voice familiar now spoke up. Leia looked towards the direction of the voice and saw Jihyo leaning in the doorway with a hand on her hip.

"President Jihyo! Nice to see you here!" The big-haired girl then said, a pretentious tone dripping thickly from her voice like honey. Leia hated how it sounded and wanted to vomit at how fake it was.

Jihyo's eyes were hard and trained on the girl. "As much as you are pleased to see me, I'm not. And you wouldn't be pleased to know that this incident will be reported immediately to the principal, which will probably result in the termination of your school contract," she spoke in an authoritative tone.

The big-haired girl gasped in horror.

Jihyo rolled her eyes. "Now go say your 'goodbye's to your many boyfriends while you still have the time."

The girl huffed, starting to cry but complied, pushing past Jihyo with her cronies following.

Leia simply looked with a shocked expression at Jihyo as the older girl approached her. "Were you serious about the whole school contract termination thing?"

Jihyo just chuckled, crossing her arms over her chest, "Of course not, but she'll be wishing it'll be. Bullying is a serious offense and punishment usually entails community service which people like that girl hate with a passion." She looked at Leia with a mischievous grin, "It did give her a good scare, though, didn't it?"

Leia smiled at the woman and let out her own chuckle, "Yeah, it did. Thanks, Jihyo."

"No problem, T. Being president of the school council has its perks, and one of them is credibility, or alternatively, fear," Jihyo winked at her and gave her a side hug. Leia returned it with her free hand and Jihyo led her out of the bathroom

"Alright, let's go get you to class. Jeong and San will freak out once I tell them what happened."

Leia followed after her. She wasn't opposed to her friends knowing. It would make her feel better about herself at the expense of her friend's derogatory quips behind the back of the big-haired girl. Her morality chided her for this. She didn't mind. That big-haired girl with a much bigger head needed to be brought down to the earth.

"And Leia?" Jihyo called out to her once more when they were in the hallway leading to Leia's classroom.

Leia responds with a "Hmm?"

Jihyo smiled at her, much like how her own mother would. "You're an awesome waterbender. It wasn't her place to ask for a show like that. You don't exist for her entertainment."

Leia hugged Jihyo and the older girl returned it.

After all of her afternoon classes were finished, Leia walked towards the diner she worked. When she arrived, she quickly put on an apron and re-tied her hair. It was still too short to be put in a bun but the ends of the ponytail were short enough to fit in the hairnet without trouble.

She clocked in, sent her co-worker, a sweet lady named Jessi, a smile, and got to work. She went into autopilot and did a mental recap of her day today. She smiled upon the remembrance of the fight Jihyo and San had about the actual level of difficulty Math had. Annoyance bubbled in her gut when she remembered the big-haired girl and what she said but it was immediately quelled when Jihyo's words echoed in her thoughts.

You don't exist for her entertainment.

She didn't exist for anyone's entertainment. She didn't exist for anyone.

I exist for myself.

Halfway into her shift, Leia was garnishing a plate of pasta when Jessi called out to her, "Leia, someone's asking for you."

Leia furrowed her brows in confusion. Nobody she knew from the restaurant really preferred her service. "Who is it?" she asked as she finished up the plate of pasta and rubbed her damp hands on her apron.

Jessi shrugged, "A bunch of kids your age. They look like trouble if you ask me. Teens out at this time of the night is never a good thing."

Leia's eyes widened at that information and a whisper of a smile was on her lips. They did not!

Jessi saw Leia's face and offered, "You can go and hang out for a couple of minutes, I'll cover for you."

Taking off her apron temporarily, Leia set it aside and thanked Jessi, "Thank you. I owe you Sorghum." Sorghum liquor was Jessi's favorite past time drink. It was also worth a good portion of a month's worth of salary.

The older woman grinned at her. "I'll hold 'ya to it." Jessi then contemplated for a while and added, "Actually, I'm feeling generous. Sorghum's worth a lot. I'll cover the rest of your shift. Go order yourself a meal while you're at it. It'll be on the house." She ushered the blue-eyed teen to quickly go out to the dining room after Leia told her what she wanted, telling her that she wasn't getting any younger.

Laughing at the old lady's mannerisms, Leia proceeded to the dining room where she saw Jihyo, Jeongyeon, and San all huddled up and talking amongst themselves in hushed whispers. She decided to not let her presence known and sneaked up at their table.

"Are you sure this is the flavor she wants?"
"She's mentioned it a few times. Of course she'll want it."
"But that doesn't mean it's her favorite. I mention Aang a lot but is he my favorite Avatar? No!"
"Don't panic, guys. It's Leia we're talking about. I'm sure as long as she at least likes the flavor, she'll appreciate it."

Leia's lips curved up into a smile. "Yeah, I think I would."

All three seniors suddenly froze and turned to look at Leia who had her hands behind her back, a playful grin on her face. "So, what are you guys going on about?"

The three looked amongst themselves, looking like children caught staying up late by their mothers. Jihyo sighed and told them to move their bodies away from the table they were all enclosing.

Leia leaned to see what they were previously hiding and almost cried when she saw it. The group moved away from the table to reveal a circular cake with pastel blue icing all over it. On the top, written in cursive were the following words.

'Happy 4 months in RC, Telepyleia! We love you!'

Surrounding the writing were four stickman figures in different colors. The one in yellow she recognized as Jihyo, the stick figure sporting short hair like she did; the one in green was Jeongyeon, the long legs and neck exaggerated to name the fact that she was tall; San was the one in bright pink, the filled in hair on the stick figure emphasizing his unconventional current hair color; and there was Leia herself in the color black with an orange crown atop her head and dark blue streaks coming out of her hands, signifying water being bent.

At the top edge of the cake was a candle that was yet to be lit.

"You guys," she muttered, tears threatening to go out of their ducts.

Jihyo spoke up, smiling at Leia's reaction, and enumerated their contributions, "The cake is strawberry shortcake underneath the blue icing, curtesy of San. Don't worry, we made sure the icing wouldn't be as sweet as how they're usually made. The writing was done by me. We added in the drawings ourselves. Oh, and the idea was Jeong's."

Jeongyeon elbowed her girlfriend, "Yah! You talk as if I did nothing!"

Jihyo looked up at the ceiling and put a finger on her chin in thought. She smiled once she remembered something. "Ah, yes, Jeongyeon forgot to bring a lighter so we couldn't light the candle."

"Jihyo-yah! Dodaeche mwoya!?"
"Dangsineun pabo! Lighter kajyeo oneun-"

"Guys! Not the time for an LQ! Look!" San shouted at the couple and pointed towards Leia who was now crying but had her mouth closed to prevent herself from making any noise.

Both Jihyo and Jeongyeon immediately approached the girl and comforted her, resulting in Leia laughing through her tears.

"Why did you guys do this? You didn't have to," the teen said through happy tears as Jihyo wiped them and Jeongyeon rubbed her arm comfortingly.

San rolled his eyes at the scene before him and muttered, "'Tch, sonyeodeul..."

Suddenly, all three girls were looking at him with narrowed eyes. Leia wasn't really familiar with languages in the Earth Kingdom but she understood some basic words.

San looked at them, confused. "What?"

The girls just kept their eyes trained on him. San rolled his eyes again and decided to answer Leia's question, "Whatever. Anyway, Leia, we just wanted to show you how much we appreciate your presence in our lives. We've been planning to this for a while, actually. We wanted to do it this Friday, since it was nearer to the fourth month mark of you staying here in Republic City and-"

San's explanation was cut off by Leia wrapping her arms around him and pulling him into a hug. San wasted no time wrapping his own arms around her.

"It was a rhetorical question, San," she sniffled on his shirt.

Once Leia had come down from crying, Jihyo and Jeongyeon let her sit beside San on one side of their table-booth and the couple situated themselves on the other.

Jessi came in and took their orders. Leia acquainted her friends of the meals and specials on their menu as if she was still on her job, as she technically was. Once their orders were settled, Jessi told them that their meals were to be served in about 10 minutes.

Leia excused herself to clean up in the restroom. She went behind the counter to grab her small hygiene kit and quickly went to the ladies' room. She took her time in washing up. For a moment, she looked up from the sink and into the mirror and saw a familiar set of bright green eyes seemingly pass behind her before she was facing the sink once more.

Thoughts of a certain earthbending lady suddenly clouded her mind. Leia wondered how she was doing. The last time they had talked at all was the first time they had met. She's probably still on the fence with me. That was one hell of a first impression. All current information she had on Lin Beifong was from Tenzin. Leia knew from him that Lin liked to ride sky bison. Leia also knew via Tenzin that she looked really cool metalbending her armor on, that she preferred tea over coffee, that her favorite tourist destination is Ember Island, and that she absolutely adores egg tarts much like Tenzin's father.

Smiling to herself, Leia shook her head to clear her thoughts. She took her face towel from her bag and pat her face dry on the way outside. By the time she arrived at their table, all their meals and drinks were served and her companions were just waiting for her to sit down in order to eat.

Dinner had Leia the most talkative she had ever been. This was her first time out with her friends at night. It felt refreshing.

"Leia?" A voice rung out from behind their booth that felt like home to Leia at this point.

"Tenzin!" The teen happily shouted upon seeing the man. She stood up and approached him, excusing herself from her friends.

"So, this is where you work," he said, looking around. He was aware that Leia had attained work but he didn't know which particular food establishment she worked under.

Leia smiled and nodded. "Yeah, what brings you here?"

"Oh, I'm currently having dinner with Lin," the man said proudly, the small tint of pink making itself known on Tenzin's cheeks.

Leia continued to grin at the man. "Nice to know it's been smooth sailing for you," she teased.

"Yeah," Tenzin said as he rubbed the back of his neck, a wobbly smile on his face. "Would you like to see her?"

Leia's eyes widened at that. "Would I? Of course!" But then, her eyes showed expressions of dismay and disappointment. She spoke in a sad tone, "The question is does she even tolerate me enough to be standing within three feet of her?"

Tenzin laughed and waved it off. "She's a cop, Leia," he reassured her, "she's dealt with people worse than you."

That didn't make things any better for Leia. She supposed given their last interaction, she shouldn't worry too much. The woman was almost friendly in the way she talked to her. Almost.

"Plus, it doesn't-"

"Hurt to ask, yeah, yeah. I hate how I'm rubbing off of you," Leia said with a pout, frustrated how her own words were turned against her. She sent a quick 'be right back' at her friends before following Tenzin to the table-booth he shared with his date.

As they reached it, Leia saw those bright green eyes that somehow triggered the production of dopamine in her head. She couldn't help but have a small smile plastered on her face. The woman had her hair pinned back in the way she always had it done and had on a simple dress in place of the uniform she'd seen her wear four months ago. Leia hasn't had the opportunity to see her in her full Chief of Police getup yet, and Leia thinks that when she does, she'd probably swoon over her.

Lin was currently browsing through the menu provided, looking the most relaxed and neutral-faced Leia had seen her be, when Tenzin spoke up, "Lin, look who I bumped into."

Leia had her hands behind her back and was peeking slightly from behind Tenzin when Lin looked up from her menu. The lady had a small smile on her face, "Who?"

Leia let herself peek out behind Tenzin a little more and the lady's small smile was history. Lin's usual scowl took over her face and Leia wanted to shrink.

"Oh," the green-eyed woman said flatly.

Despite herself, Leia stepped out from behind Tenzin and gave the older woman a small wave, greeting her, "Hi, Chief Lin Beifong."

"Turns out, this was the diner Leia said she worked out," Tenzin quipped with enthusiasm, wanting to disperse the tension now forming. "Isn't that great?"

Lin's expression doesn't change and didn't bother to cover up her displeasure as she continued in with her monotonous tone, "Terrific."

Tenzin suddenly asked, observing Leia's hairnet, "So, you're done for the night then?"

Leia was quick to answer, "Oh, yeah. My friends decided surprise me and do a quick celebration for my 4th month at Republic City! I'm still technically on my shift but my co-worker said she'd cover for me the rest of the way-"

Lin scoffed, "Slacking on the job? Some employee you are. You teens think you can do anything. And a celebration? For what? You've done absolutely nothing to deserve it."

Leia had heat rush to her cheeks in frustration, embarrassment, and slight amger, her brows furrowing and lips pursing as she looked at the woman seated. She was okay with the slacking comment, but her last statement somewhat hurt. She contemplated on defending herself before deciding not to, not wanting to have her mood ruined for the night.

"Yeah, what a shame. Anyway," Leia turned to Tenzin, "I'm gonna go back to my cohorts." Then, she addressed the couple, "Nice seeing you two. Have a nice night."

"You, too, Leia! Don't stay out too late tonight," Tenzin called out at the teen who was halfway to her previous booth.

She gave Tenzin a quick nod and headed back to her friends, eager to forget all about her interactions with a certain stern-faced lady.

Sometimes it does hurt to ask.

-

"This is a decent place you got here, Leia. I know I complimented it but that doesn't mean I'm happy. Air Temple Island won't be the same without you."

Tenzin drops off the last of Leia's things in her soon-to-be furnished house.

"Do you have to move?" Tenzin asked with a sad look on his face.

Leia just laughed, "Tenzin, you're 27. Man up! It's not like I'm gonna move back to the South Pole. You could visit me anytime. I'm sure I'll be visiting the island often. Plus, I bought the place already and we've just dropped off the last of all my stuff."

Tenzin sighed and engulfed the teen in a hug. Leia was happy to receive this and hugged back immediately, knowing he was never the type to go for close physical contact.

Once he let go, he sighed again.

"Ooh, watch it, Tenzin. You're sighing a lot," Leia teased and nudged him with her elbow. "Starting to sound a lot like your father."

The monk sent a playful glare at her. "I do not!"

Again, Leia laughed, "Sure you don't."

She was about to ask him to leave when he sighed for the third time since they've arrived to settle all of the stuff that Leia had in her room. All except the stone bed. Aang was generous enough to let her take the desk and all other furniture he leant her for the time she spent there.

"I'm sorry my father can't see you off. You were almost like a daughter to him for the past 7 months," he said, looking down at the ground. He looked at Leia's eyes which still had that twinkle that was characteristic of her. "You were like a sister to me."

At that unexpected confession, a tear slipped down Leia's cheek. Then, she tackles him in another hug. This time, it was bonecrushing and though Tenzin would have produced tears upon realization of his own words, it was also partially out of pain.

"You talk like I'm dead. I still am your sister."

She let him go and he let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. Tenzin and Leia both had tears slipping down their faces. Leia took Tenzin's hands from his sides and shook them in tandem with her words. "And you're my brother."

The pair broke into smiles.

"Now go," Leia said, pushing Tenzin to the door by his shoulders, "your sister has a lot of unpacking to do and prefers to be alone to do some young-adult thinking to herself."

Tenzin laughed as he went through the door. Leia gave him one last hug before seeing him take off on Oogi. She climbed up to the second floor of the compound and went back to her bare apartment unit.

She looked around and smiled to herself. She took a hair tie and put her now chest-length hair in a ponytail. Leia looked at the boxes containing all her stuff with her hands on her hips.

"Alright, boxes. In the words of the former Fire Princess Azula, 'time to face your doom!'" She declared out loud, pulling out a pair of scissors and pointing it up at the ceiling, grinning with twinkling eyes.

This is only the beginning.

-

The graduation of Leia's friends just felt like another simple affair since they all worked in the laboratories of the compound next to the school and saw each other daily anyway. They made it a point to wait for Leia's classes to end so they would accompany her to the diner she worked at. On her one-year anniversarry of staying in Republic City, she invited them to come with her and visit the South Pole together. All three of them obliged, eager to meet the family that raised the bright Leia.

It was a short but sweet trip. Jeongyeon and Jihyo absolutely fell in love with Senna, babying her as if she was their child. Leia's parents were entertained by San's stories of Leia in school as well as his own stories of himself growing up in the Middle Ring of Ba Sing Se. She took them penguin sledding and have them observe the seals which the biologist couple enjoyed very much.

In a matter of 5 years, Leia had successfully graduated at the top of her class and was employed in the very same institute her friends were working at. The institute was named after its founder and thankfully not the city it was located at much like other major institutions: Liu Research Institute, alternatively known as simply LiuRI. LiuRI was like a playground for scientists and inventors, and most of its employees were RCU alumni. Having been funded by the government, LiuRI's laboratories were the places of birth of many of the medical and technological advancements of Republic City and in turn, the world.

While working on a project as a member of a team led by one of her biologist seniors, Ms. Kuriyama, Leia also took the chance to continue on with getting a doctorate as a geneticist. One of the many things she had to accomplish in order to attain her title would be a thesis. She had many ideas but choosing one proved to be quite difficult. There was one particular topic she wanted to explore and this was something she had in her mind ever since she was 16. This topic was on the heredity of bending.

This was how she found herself on a ferry bound for Air Temple Island in the middle of the week nearing dusk. Leia often visited Air Temple at random intervals. Sometimes she would show up every week, sometimes a few days in series, and sometimes it took her maybe a month or two before she visited again. This was one of those times wherein it had been nearly three months since her last visit.

The acolytes at the island welcomed Leia warmly, informing her that they were glad to finally see her again. Leia was amused at that. Maybe it was quite the silent island without her barking questions and the most random facts out loud, all day long. Nothing changed much on the island since she moved out. The people only grew older just as she did. There were times where she visited and neither Aang nor Tenzin were there so she simply caught up via the Air Acolytes.

There was one acolyte in particular that  Leia was very fond of talking to. It was a girl her age named Pema. She was a quite the pretty girl who decided that the city life was too much and became an acolyte in the hopes that her life would become better. She seemed to be satisfied with her current occupation. She helped in cooking the food in the Avatar's household and always made rice porridge the way Leia liked it.

Pema was one of the acolytes who has rushed in to greet her, swinging her arms around the slightly older girl currently wearing a simple white button-up blouse tucked into her high-waist pants, with baggy sleeves she usually had folded in, paired with her favorite pair of shoes: combat boots that had a slight heel which made her look taller.  Her lab gown allowed her to get away with her fashion, not that she cared much. It was Jihyo and Jeongyeon who were insistent that she should at least learn to dress smart so the outside matches in the inside. "Leia! It's been so long since the last time you visited," Pema giggled, letting the older girl out of her grasp but keeping a hold on her hands.

"I know. I'm sorry about that. Things at LiuRI have been quite hectic and overwhelming, but I honestly wouldn't have it any other way." Leia said, smiling brightly at the acolyte.

Pema looked at her in disbelief before shaking her head and grabbing Leia's wrist. "Come on, you look like you could use some soup. Tenzin's currently in his father's study so you can wait for him in the dining area." Leia didn't miss the slight rosy blush on Pema's pale cheeks when she said her last sentence.

Pema was right when she said Leia needed soup. As soon as the warm liquid brew from favorful mushrooms swished in the insides of her mouth and travelled down her throat, Leia's worries seemed to disappear, albeit temporarily.

"Spirits, this is amazing, Pema. Don't tell Aang and Tenzin but the main reason I keep coming back to this island is because of your cooking, without a doubt," Leia joked half-heartedly and Pema snorted at that.

Leia laughed along with Pema. "No, but seriously," the blue-eyed teen insisted, "your cooking is really good. Blessed be the man who'd eventually marry you."

Leia realized her words and quickly added, panicking slightly, "I mean, that is assuming that you are planning to marry. Not that I'm telling you that you should!" She was currently frantically waving her hands around as if she did something wrong and was trying to explain herself. She then groaned and gave up, "Yeah, I should stop talking now."

Pema giggled again and put a hand on Leia's arm in reassurance. "Nonsense, Leia. I know you meant it as a compliment, and thank you." Then, a blush settled on her cheeks once more. She started twirling a lock of her hair in her pointer finger, a small smile gracing her lips, "Actually, I do plan to marry."

Leia raised a brow at her friend's behavior. She was also relieved that she hadn't offended the acolyte. "Oooh, who's the lucky guy?" She asked Pema in a teasing tone.

Pema just blushed further but her face fell. Leia noticed this and feared that she'd caused the acolyte to become uncomfortable once more. She chose her next words carefully.

"Complicated?" Leia asked, finally settling on the simple question. Pema looked at her with sad eyes and nodded sadly.

Leia now laid her hand above the one Pema placed on her arm as well as the one at her side and took them in both of her hands, giving it a small squeeze. "You don't need to talk about it if you don't want to."

Pema sighed and slowly took her hands away from Leia. She thought for a moment before relenting. Leia noticed her hesitation and concluded that the girl probably had this bottled up for quite some time and was eager to get it off her chest.

Pema looked at Leia with sad and somewhat guilty eyes when she spoke, "He's currently with someone else."

Ding, ding, ding!

Multiple alarm bells started going off in Leia's mind as she started to piece things together.

He's currently with someone else.

Leia didn't miss the slight rosy blush on Pema's pale cheeks when she said her last sentence.

Pema's blush.

What was her last sentence?

"Tenzin's currently in his father's study so you can wait for him in the dining area."

He's currently with someone else.

Tenzin was with Lin.

Pema blushed upon mentioning Tenzin's name.

Complicated?

He's currently with someone else.

Pema looked at her with sad eyes.

Pema just blushed further but her face fell.

Complicated.

Tenzin was with Lin. He's currently with someone else. Pema blushed upon mentioning Tenzin's name. Her face fell.

That was complicated alright.

"Yikes," was all Leia could come up with. She stared at Pema with wide eyes. At this rate, Leia was an open book with her expressions and Pema would've been able to tell that she figured it out.

Pema groaned, "I know. I don't want to be a homewrecker." Leia cringed at the word and looked down at her hands, contemplating at what to do with the new information she'd received. "But the guy's just been really nice and he told me that him and his current girl fight a lot right now."

Leia wanted to snap her head towards Pema at that but she knew doing so would give her away. Lin and Tenzin have been fighting? She slowly looked at Pema, making sure no judgemental thoughts had formed in her head before she asked, "How long have they been fighting?"

"Almost a year now," Pema said in a mixed tone. She sounded like she wanted to be sad about it but the fact was to her benefit and she ended up sounding a bit too upbeat about it.

"That's..." complicated, Leia wanted to say but she feared it might trigger some sort of word vomit for her and reveal that she knew. "Unfortunate."

Pema nodded, looking forlorn. She then looked at Leia with pleading eyes. "What do you think I should do?"

Absolutely nothing, Leia wanted to say. Lin and Tenzin's relationship looked so good in her eyes. Apparently, her brother in spirit left out a lot of details in the time they caught up with one another.

"I don't know, Pema. I really don't."

And that was the truth.

-

Leia knew she should've talked about her thesis concept but the moment she received very interesting information from Pema, it was like the idea never existed.

"How long did you plan to keep this from me?" Leia asked, looking the most upset and angry that Tenzin had seen her. He was on the way to dinner when Leia grabbed him by the ear and led him back into his study.

He was rubbing his ear which had turned red from Leia's grasp and was looking at Leia as she paced in front of him. The moment they were in the study and made sure no one could hear them, she quickly asked him why he didn't tell her that there was trouble in paradise. When he didn't answer, she continued on with her second question.

"I was going to tell you," Tenzin said in a small voice.

"Yeah?" Leia snapped her head to look at him. She approached him and leaned into his face, "when?" She got out of his face and put her arms over her chest, something very uncharacteristic of her.

Suddenly, Tenzin's own anger flared through. "I don't need to tell you all about my love life! It's my own personal business!"

Leia, hurt at his statement, retracted, "You didn't seem to think that 5 years ago!"

"Well, I changed my mind!" Tenzin huffed, not used to letting his temper get to his head. "A lot happened in 5 years, but I guess you wouldn't know since you weren't on the island."

Leia looked at the older man, utterly confused. "Oh, so it's about me leaving the island now, is that it? Tenzin, you're a grown man and I promised you I'd visit whenever I could. I kept it didn't I?"

Tenzin seemed to only hear about half of what she responded with and continued to defend his decision of keeping information from her, "Exactly, I'm a grown man and I get to decide who I let in on my personal business."

He was glaring at her now before relenting and telling her, calming himself slightly. "If you must know, Lin and I have been drifting apart for the last two years. Actually, all we seem to do is fight now."

Leia looked at him with a mix of emotions but mostly feelings of betrayal and sadness prevailed. She felt betrayed at his decision to keep all of this from her. She felt sad that she didn't see the signs soon enough.

"You said you were both busy," Leia scoffed as she remembered Tenzin's excuses for why she never seemed to see them together as often, again, an action very uncharacteristic of her.

"We were! And it didn't help that we were because we could barely find time to even just talk to one another."

Leia clicked her tongue, feeling as though something was missing.

"There's something else you aren't telling me," she accused him with confidence. She had gotten really good with standing her ground due to the many defense panels she'd find herself undergoing in the university. "Something must've triggered it. You don't simply just grow apart like that. You had a disagreement. A big one. What was it?"

Tenzin sighed angrily, frustrated that Leia could read him like an open book. "I talked about having children."

There it was. The sweetest cherry on top of all the icing and cake of this madness.

"As the only airbender of my generation, I have a legacy to make way for the next generation of airbenders," the monk explained and Leia understood that.

"She wasn't too fond of the idea of kids, wasn't she?" Leia prompted, already knowing the answer. Tenzin nodded.

"Of course I explained my dilemma but she keeps refusing to even entertain the thought," Tenzin said, sounding frustrated.

Leia thought for a moment before supplying a quip to defend the side of the earthbender. "Tenzin, I know you have a lot of pressure on you to fulfill a legacy you never asked to be a part of," she started, choosing her words carefully as she was currently treading on thin ice, "but think of how an equal amount of pressure is put on Lin when you ask her to even consider having kids with you."

She held up one of her hands to enumerate, starting off with extending her pointer finger, "First off, she's already the Chief of Police in Republic City. That is a big enough legacy on its own. The fate of millions of lives are in her hands. Second, she's Toph Beifong's daughter. There are always expectations she forces herself to live up to."

Leia pauses momentarily to see if Tenzin was still listening and was pleased to see when he was looking intently at her. "Third," she declared, putting out her right finger, "asking her to be the mother of the next generation of airbenders puts her in a spot of choosing between the life she currently has and is thriving in, and the life of being settled down with you, abandoning everything she has worked for prior to that."

Tenzin looked so lost after Leia stated her case. She sighed, "Tenzin, it's still going to be your decision on what course of action you're gonna take. I'm just-"

The monk's authoritarian tone boomed in the room where they were at. "I knew it. You go on and on providing pros and cons about everything and supplementing every single detail, leading to maybe one of the paths that I should probably take like the 'know-it-all' you are," he started, narrowing his eyes at the girl who still stood her ground. "And then you scrap it all in the end and tell me that it's my choice. Do you know what kind of hotseat you end up placing me in?"

Leia stayed silent, showing no emotion in front of the man she once called brother.

Tenzin smirked at her inability to answer. "Exactly. You tell me it's my choice on how to go about my life," he started towards the door. "Then it's my choice if I want you out of it."

And with that, he left Leia alone in the study, tears undoubtedly flowing down her cheeks.

She went on autopilot on the way home that night. The moon was full. She entered her apartment unit and was quick to lock and close every visual opening to the outside world. She left a single window open, one that showed her a direct view of the full moon peaking out from behind dark clouds.

Taking an all-too-familiar knife from her nightstand, she decided to cut across her dominant hand, producing a large wound that had red liquid immediately flow out of it.

She took a deep breath before waving her right hand out, the natural physics of her movement along with her bending causing more blood to draw out at an increased rate. Then, she had a long blade in her hand. Exhilirated at both the feeling of the moon's presence and her high from her fight with Tenzin, she proceeded to drown out all her thoughts by practicing both normal bending with the blood as  if it were water and wielding it as a blade.

In the morning, she turned herself in at the hospital, aware she lost far too much blood. She was diagnosed as anemic.