My Missing Mom

Sora

"Where even are we?" I asked, looking around the small clearing in the woods where Pengpeng had landed. The bison was asleep now, and snoring softly.

"Oh, this is right by Omashu," Amber said. "Gyatsu and I come here all the time."

"Who's Gyatsu?" Shen asked Amber. I noticed that the two of them were awfully close.

"Ikki and Haru's son. He's, what, twelve?" I asked.

"Eleven, actually."

"Damn. I haven't seen the kid in forever."

"I haven't either," Amber replied. "What with the new baby and all -"

"New baby?" I screamed.

"Wait, you didn't know?"

"When?" I grabbed her shoulders and looked into the amber eyes that gave her her name.

"Like, three months ago!"

"We are visiting this child," I announced, letting go of Amber.

"Um, schedule," Jaei reminded me.

"Um, we're three days ahead of schedule," I told him. "One day will not kill us!"

"Aren't we going to use those three to grab our Waterbender?" Shen asked. "You told Opal we'd have one of each element."

I shrugged. "Don't know any. We'll do fine without."

"Yeah, just like how the Gaang did fine without fire," Jaei said.

"That's because their fire was still hunting them, duh." I put out the small campfire we'd used to cook our food.

"Okay, well, I haven't met my cousin either. So I'm coming," Amber said.

"You two have to come and meet Ikki and Haru," I ordered, throwing the bundle that had our pans onto Pengpeng's back. "Amber, lead the way!"

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"Oh my Spirits, you're adorable!" I said to the happy six-month-old who was playing with my hair. "So, so cute," I told her.

"She is, isn't she?" Ikki asked, running a hand through her wild shoulder-length hair.

"I love little kids," Amber said, and I passed the baby to her.

"Right, now that I've met Sora, I need you to meet some people," I told Ikki and Haru.

"I was wondering when you'd start about those to," he said, gesturing to Shen and Jaei, who were behind Amber and I.

"Yeah," Amber said. "Sora, Aunt Ikki, Uncle Haru, this is Jaei, my friend. And this is Shen, my..."

"Your what?" I asked, confused. Were they not getting along as well as I thought?

"Girlfriend?" Shen asked quietly.

"Girlfriend," Amber nodded, blushing.

I actually fell over. Like, my legs didn't hold me up for a second and I landed on my back. "Girlfriend?!" I asked. "Since when?"

"Since.." Amber blushed.

"Since she looked at me and goes, 'You're hot,'" Shen clarified with a smirk. Ikki giggled and Haru pulled that grin that he always did when she giggled, then chuckled himself.

"Oh my Spirits," Amber said, turning Fire Nation Red and hiding behind the giggling baby.

"Yeah," Shen went on, "And I was like, 'what?' and she said never mind but then I look at her and go 'You're not so bad yourself,' and -"

"You can shut up anytime now!" Amber said loudly, cutting her off.

"Hey, don't blame me! Akemi's the one who asked!"

"Okay, I am responsible for nothing, it is not unusual to ask my my two BFFs are dating and didn't tell me," I said, poking Shen in the face when I said didn't.

"I'm confused," Jaei said. "Isn't it against the Bible to love the same gender?"

"I'm not religious," Shen said.

"I believe in spirits and only spirits," Amber said.

"Well, time to say goodbye if you think that," I said. "I take that to personal offense. My mom, Avatar Korra? You know who she's married to?"

Jaei shook his head, confused.

"Asami Sato. They're bi."

"Oh." his eyebrows shot up. "Uh, don't tell my mom. Actually, she'd find out anyways. I probably shouldn't talk to you anymore. She'd kill me," he admitted, looking like I told him Christmas wa cancelled.

"What do you think?" Haru asked.

"Me?"

"Yeah, what do you think about homosexuals?"

"Uh, I mean, the Bible says -"

"Not what the bible says," Ikki cut in. "What Jaei says."

"I don't know. I was always told the bible was right."

"Is Amber a good person?" I asked.

"What - uh, yeah. I think. Like, we just met."

"Well, she's nice, you can tell by how she treated you. She's a people person, that baby latched right on to her. She's funny, I heard you two goofing off last night. So you know some things about her. And from what you know, is she a good person?" Shen asked.

"Y-yeah, she is," Jaei said.

"But she's-" I looked to Amber.

"Lesbian," she said.

"-so does that mean she's a bad person?"

"I don't know!" Jaei admitted.

"Look," Ikki said, "All we're trying to say is, in this family, we don't care about who is what. We care about who is who. And that's all."

Jaei paused, looking at Amber and Shen. He nodded. "Okay."

"Okay?" Ikki asked.

"Okay," he repeated.

"So you're not leaving me - us?"

"Nope." he smiled. I noticed that he had dimples. Cute, I thought.

"Hold up a minute," Haru said. "What do you mean, leaving me? Are there two couples?"

"Yes," I said. "Amber and Shen, and you and Ikki." I gave him a death glare.

Ikki giggled. "Jaei, do you have a crush on Akemi?"

"No!"

"You're lying!" Shen screamed. "I feel it in my feet!"

"Shut up," we said at the same time to everyone. Haru and Ikki were laughing, Shen and Amber making kissing noises, and Sora was .. Well, she was laughing a bubbly laugh, but I don't think it was at me and Jaei. We were scowling.

Until we looked at each other. And then he kissed me again. And I stopped functioning and fell backwards and landed in a heap of giggles on the floor, blushing like crazy.

Guess, he just had that affect on me.