The days at Republic City seemed to overlap as more and more time passed. The sun rose at the same time, it set at the same hour, Tapeesa woke on the same bed, with the same companion a few doors down. Appa would always be there to take her and Aang to Republic City and then he would be there to pick them up so they could head back to Air Temple Island. Despite the repetitive nature of her stay there, though, she quite liked this place.
Katara's letter had arrived just on the previous day and she had been quick to send one back to assure her she was doing well. Katara's reassurance that everything in the Southern Water Tribe was the way she left it was a relief as she would have never wanted the fragile balance of the Tribe to have been broken in her absense. Perhaps, in the next letter, she would let her know how the Southern Water Tribe, even though all of them had been hospitable and she was eternally grateful for the years she spent by their side, didn't feel like home.
But for some reason, this yard she had seen for the first time in her life barely a week ago, seemed like home.
"Core strength, that's one of the keys, you need to be solid and balanced but also elusive," Tapeesa called out as she walked all around the dozen aspiring police officers she had paired off for this non-bender fight she had been asked to supervise. A few ways away, Aang, Suki and Toph watched as she kept on with her lesson. Tapeesa had only had the chance to train all of the officers today and to all of them, it appeared clear her military training was shining through.
"Earthbenders, waterbenders, no need to be discouraged," she called out as she noticed Yua's frown a few ways away, when the firebender she was asked to fight kept on attacking without pause. "The only reason the firebenders are better at this than you are is because of their element. You can be like them, better than them. Now, I can't promise anything about being better than non-benders," she commented with a small smirk.
Non-benders were always ferocious when fighting. It seemed as if their lack of bending made them more passionate fighters – and it was true. In a world where benders existed and one was born defenceless, they would use any means they had to protect themselves. They left no loose ends because always, in the back of their mind they knew should they fail, they had no plan to save themselves.
Tapeesa had felt how that was countless of times when in the Fire Nation navy, forced as she was to hide her bending. The elusive tricks with ice were helpful but they couldn't always be done without base, unless she wanted people to become suspicious.
"Maneuver, Lee, you can," she called out to an earthbender who had just received a hit from the non-bender he was fighting against. "If you pretend to be a rock the only thing you will achieve here is get injured."
A few ways away, she heard Toph grumble, "You are ruining my good work."
Tapeesa's lips curled into a smile, although she didn't say a word. "Li, fight back!"
By the time the training was over, most of the officers were heaving for breath, sweaty and tired, the sun having just turned to hit them in the yard. Tapeesa appraised them for a moment before she nodded to herself.
"Good work, today. I am confident that next time will be even better."
"Do you want to show them how they could be if they tried enough?" Toph called out, her bait enough to catch her prey. Tapeesa turned to face her briefly.
"What kind of demonstration would you suggest?"
The police officers were evidently intrigued as Suki stepped forward. "They should see what the results of their hard work could be like."
Tapeesa didn't hesitate for a moment. "It's been a while."
She gestured to her students to move aside to watch as she headed to the centre. Briefly, she raised her hands to her hair in an effort to be certain her braids were still in place and wouldn't bother her during the fight, and then she turned back to Suki who had taken her place opposite her.
"Keep in mind I still have a daughter to return to back home," she mused as she took her stance opposite her.
Tapeesa smirked lightly as she called out, "Never let an opponent's weakness affect you."
Suki smiled as a couple of the officers laughed. "As if you are a non-bender, correct?"
Tapeesa nodded once, set her jaw. "Correct."
Suki attacked first. She rained a barrage of punches, one after the other. Tapeesa barely defected some of them. The last one she countered, her forearm hitting against Suki's. She rotated her wrist, grabbed Suki's arm, twisted it around her back. Suki grunted but freed herself the next moment.
Then the real fight began.
The officers could barely make out who was attacking and who was defending, arms and legs raising in record speed. They never stayed too far away from the other and no matter their attacks, neither of them yielded. A few minutes later, they were just as they had started, both of them standing tall, expressions determined.
They would have kept on going until one of them fell if it weren't for Aang, taking a step closer to them and gently forcing a gust of air between them to push them apart. Suki and Tapeesa looked at each other one more time, then at Aang who was smiling at them sheepishly, and finally, they turned to each other.
Tapeesa nodded at Suki, "You are good."
"So are you," Suki acknowledged with a small smirk, "almost like a non-bender."
"And that is the level of skill you could reach," Toph announced as Aang let his gust of air die out. The aspiring police officers seemed starstruck as they looked from Tapeesa and Suki to each other.
"How are we supposed to reach that skill in a couple of months?" a firebender asked from the back.
Suki and Tapeesa smiled slightly before Suki answered, "You don't. But chances are that even if you manage to become half as good, there won't be that many people who will be able to last against you in a fight."
"We aren't expecting you to become like us," Tapeesa added, "because you won't. You can get the necessary basic training, though, and that's what we are aiming for. If anyone wants, you can always keep on training after the end of our practice."
"That is right," Toph piped in, "Master Tapeesa might not be around for a long time but Master Suki isn't going anywhere. You can always seek her out."
"Where will you be going?" Li asked, frown in place.
"Should I ever decide, I will let you know," was Tapeesa's response. She stole a glance at Toph before she nodded to herself. "You are dismissed."
They started leaving the yard, one by one, and once they were gone, Tapeesa turned to Aang, already expecting him so they could head back to Air Temple Island. Before she could join him by the door, though, Suki standing beside her spoke up.
"You are alright after our fight, right?"
"Just fine," Tapeesa assured her with a small smile, "I didn't hurt you did I?"
"Nothing I can't handle," she told her with a brief pat on her shoulder. "I'll see you tomorrow."
Tapeesa hummed in response as she watched Suki leave. She turned to Toph and Aang talking among each other by the door and walked over.
"My officers have already secured the area, we will catch them sooner or later, we have a pretty good description of them."
"What happened?" she asked as she got near.
"There was a robbery yesterday evening," Aang explained at once, "they have isolated the area where they have eluded the robber could be and they are probably going to catch them by the end of this day."
Tapeesa frowned, "Really? They still steal? I thought that after leaving their homes in search of a new future they would at least not steal. After all, this place is new, they can build whatever they want."
"Things aren't that simple," Aang admitted with a sigh, "as compensation for his offer, the Earth King demands taxes from the people for the first three years. Then, he will leave them alone as promised. The taxes are too much, though. Some can't live with that burden and resort to stealing."
Tapeesa's lips curled into a scowl. "Of course he made them pay taxes."
"I need to go back to work," Toph piped in, "I will see you both tomorrow."
"See you, Toph," Aang echoed as Tapeesa hummed in response. "We should get back to the island."
"We should," she agreed, already heading to the exit. Aang followed after her. "Have you written to the King for that issue?"
"I have a couple of times, his answer was the same," he sighed, "apparently, he is certain the people will survive for another year."
Tapeesa scoffed, "Some nobles are useless, truly."
"King Kuei isn't like that," he attempted to defend him, "his advisors and consultants don't let him do what he wants."
"Perhaps he should try being more courageous," she insisted. Aang smiled slightly at the show of irritation, but it was gone as quickly as it came as she turned to face him. "All we can do is attempt to help them."
"You are helping," he assured her, the next moment, turning to wave at a woman who called his title in greeting. Then, he turned back to Tapeesa. "You are contributing to ensuring the area remains safe."
"Sometimes it doesn't feel like enough," she admitted, but as quickly as that moment of vulnerability came, it disappeared, with a shake of her head. She turned to Aang with a tiny smile. "I will cook us lunch today. Like the old times."
He chuckled, "I doubt things are like the old times."
"Why not?" she countered with a raised brow. "It's still you and me, Appa moving us around."
"I am no longer in danger."
"The Avatar could always be in danger," she pointed out in a teasing manner as they reached the docks. Aang only shook his head as he called for Appa.
It only took a couple of seconds before the sky bison appeared. Tapeesa had come upon the conclusion early on that Appa was always near when Aang called him, as if expecting his call. She got on the saddle after patting Appa's side for a moment, receiving a small moan in return. Aang took his position on his neck and reached for the reins.
"Yip yip."
The sky bison rose in the air and headed back to Air Temple Island, as Aang asked. Tapeesa kept quiet as she looked ahead in the distance until they reached the island. Then she was quickly walking away to cook, as she had insisted. Aang followed after her a while later, and when he got inside, he found her by the stove, as he had expected.
"For how long are you planning on staying here?"
"For as long as you want me to," was Tapeesa's instant response. Aang moved a bit closer, mainly to see what she was cooking.
"That's not a proper answer. In how much time are they expecting you back to the Southern Water Tribe?"
"Katara didn't tell me," she admitted as she stirred the food. "When she told me her farewells, though, it felt as if she didn't expect to see me come back."
Aang froze just beside Tapeesa, head right over her shoulder as he had attempted to see what was inside the pot. The breath he let out was rather shaky and at the sound, Tapeesa looked over her shoulder. If she were confused by his proximity, she didn't say so.
"Katara wouldn't have done that if there wasn't reason."
"I think she had realized that no matter how nice and hospitable the people in the Southern Water Tribe were, the place wasn't my home," she admitted as she kept on stirring the pot.
Slowly, Aang moved to the side to give her some more space, although he didn't look away from her. "I think home isn't a place. It's the people around you that make it important."
Tapeesa hummed, "You must have many homes then, depending on the places your friends are."
Aang didn't tell her he was almost lost when she first left to head to the Southern Water Tribe. He didn't tell her how his friends had realized what she meant to him the moment he was on his own again and how they had urged him to take the trip to the Southern Pole too many times to count in the last two years. He didn't tell her how he hadn't stopped thinking about her even after all the time spent apart, how her presence put him in a pleasant mood at once.
He didn't say a word, and so he would not know she had regretted leaving the moment she had done it or that he was in her mind most of the day. Clueless of what he meant to her, he only hummed at her assumption.
"Something like that."
He missed the look she gave him in return, rather surprised he had almost denied her guess. Much like Aang, though, Tapeesa didn't speak her mind when it came to such things. So they both remained quiet, unaware of the other's thoughts even though they were exactly the same.