"I'm still not used to being around this much snow." Iroh comments as we're walking around the Tribe. He's been staying here with us for a few days, and it's been the absolute best. Words can't describe how much I needed a friend during this time. I don't know how I would've managed without him.
I chuckle and turn to look up at him. "Well, when I went to your birthday at the Fire Nation I couldn't fathom that there wasn't an inch of snow."
He smiles at my words and looks up ahead, admiring the road ahead of us. "You have a good point there. I can't imagine how shocking that was for you." Iroh notes with a slight laugh.
"It was pretty shocking. I couldn't stop interrogating Gran-Gran about the lack of snow in the Fire Nation." I inform him. Then, I go faster than him by a few steps, and turn to face him whilst walking backwards. "So, what do you want to do today? We could go penguin sledding!"
Iroh turns to meet my eyes and raises an eyebrow. "Didn't you say that Korra and your friends from Republic City are coming in today? For the festival?"
Realization hits me and the fact that they're all coming back today. I haven't seem them in a little over a month. Despite the fact that I should be pretty excited to see all of them, and a part of me truly is, I am not looking forward to seeing Mako and Korra being all couple-y. I mean, I'm happy for them and everything, but I also don't feel like having their relationship flaunted at me.
I turn my body to be walking back by Iroh's side. I look down and begin fiddling with my thumbs. "That's right." I respond, struggling to hide the anxiety in my voice. "They should already be on their way here."
"You sound more disappointed than excited." Iroh notes, looking at me with concern.
"It's nothing." I immediately dismiss. "It's just, I haven't seem them in a while. I feel like it's going to be weird or something, you know?"
Iroh grabs my hand. "It's only going to be weird if you make it weird." He assures me. "Besides, I'm here. You won't be alone."
"Thank you, Iroh." I sincerely say. "You have no idea how much it means to me that you're here."
"Anytime, Luna. I'll always be here for you." He assures me. "So, how long until they get here? I'm kind of curious about the penguin sledding thing."
A wide smile appears on my face. "You're going to love it. Come on!"
☾ ☾ ☾
Gran-Gran, my mother, Iroh, and I are standing in the docks by the outskirts of the Tribe, waiting for my friends and family's arrival for the festival. My mom and I are still not in speaking terms, per se. It hurts me a lot to only talk to her when I need her to pass something at the dinner table or when I tell her that I'm going out for a walk, instead of talking about everything like we used to.
But things aren't like they used to be anymore. I can't go back to not knowing about Tahana. I can't go back to a life where ignorance is bliss.
Because I know now that it isn't.
"Gran-Gran!" I hear my cousins exclaim as they run towards my grandmother's arms. I look up to see everyone coming off the ship. Uncle Tenzin, Aunt Pema with baby Rohan in her arms, Bolin, Asami, Mako, and Korra.
Gran-Gran's eyes water at the sight of her grandchildren. "Oh, you've all gotten so big!"
Jinora turns to my mom and hugs her tightly. "We missed you Aunt Kya!"
I roll my eyes unintentionally, which causes Iroh to nudge me. When I look up to him, he's laughing at me. "Something funny, Iroh?" I tease.
He shakes his head as he continues to laugh. "You're just very sassy."
"Only when I'm annoyed." I defend.
"Sure, Luna." He appeases. "Whatever you say."
I turn my attention back to my family to find my mom still talking to my cousins. "Your father doesn't bring you to visit nearly enough." She tells them, then turning to face my uncle, and punching him lightly on the arm. "He's probably scared I'll beat him up like when we were kids."
"I'm not scared of you!" My uncle denies. "Anymore."
Everyone around me chuckles, but for some reason I don't. I think I'm really annoyed at my mom and can't just force myself to pretend that I'm okay with her selfish actions – not even for my family.
Out of the corner of my eye, my breath hitches as soon as I see them. My heart sinks and I have this weird, chilling feeling in my stomach. It's my best friend introducing her boyfriend to her parents. Her boyfriend who I'm pretty sure I like.
My mouth goes dry and I get cold chill. It's not that I wasn't expecting to see them, I knew that I would. It's just that I'm upset that they are all happy and in-love while I've been dealing with grief and rage and fights all by myself. All alone when I always had Korra and she always had me.
"Luna!" Her voice catches my attention. I turn around to see Asami running towards me with a huge, contagious smile.
"Hi, Asami!" I respond while giggling as I engulf her in my arms.
She breaks off our embrace and cups my face with her hands. "I missed you so much! How are you?"
"I'm good." I say quickly, avoiding eye contact and hoping with every fiber of my being that she doesn't press the subject further.
Before Asami could say anything more, I feel a pair of arms attach themselves at my waist. I gasp as I feel myself being carried and spun around. "If it isn't my favorite braided waterbender!" Bolin exclaims as he puts me down.
I chuckle and smile at the earthbender. "Hey, Bo. How are you?"
"I'm great! Excited! Completely ready to explore this frozen paradise!" He answers dramatically, to no one's surprise.
"You guys remember Iroh." I state, grabbing my friend's arm and pulling him closer to the three of us.
Asami eyes me weirdly, then turns her attention to Iroh. "How could I forget? He saved our lives like a thousand times. I didn't think that the United Forces would be invited to this festival?"
"They weren't." I clarify. "I invited him."
"Oh." She responds dramatically. "Are you two, like, you know, a thing?"
I have a coughing fit and feel a fierce crimson blush creep up on my cheeks. Iroh rubs the back of his neck and also is blushing when I turn up to look up at him. "W-We're not." Iroh immediately denies.
"I see." Asami says with a deep smirk. "Not yet anyways, right?"
"Asami." I say, shooting eye-darts at her. "Shut up."
"Why are you telling Asami to shut up?" I hear my best friend's familiar voice query.
I turn around and meet her blue eyes, feeling nothing but frustration and anger. I know I shouldn't feel this way, as she needed to train her airbending, but I do. I needed her and she wasn't there.
"No reason." I say dryly.
"Hey, ice girl." Mako greets with a smile, his arm around Korra's waist. "How you been? We've missed you."
I meet his amber eyes and feel tears threatening to spill from my eyes. "Yeah, I missed you guys too."
I see Korra raise an eyebrow at us – Iroh and I, confusion in her expression. "Did something happen? Are you mad at—"
"Wow!" Bolin interrupts. "Look at all these people that came out to greet us!"
"Uh, no. They came to greet them." Korra clarifies, pointing towards her uncle's ship. He's the chief of the Northern Tribe and is coming for the festival. I never really liked him, so I'm not excited about seeing him. At all.
Everyone around us start cheering, with the exemption of Korra and I's families. We remain stoic, refusing to honor my best friend's snooty uncle. Once the ship docks, the first ones off are Northern guards, followed by the Chief and his children, Eska and Desna.
"Woah," Bolin suddenly coos in admiration. "who are the lovely ladies?"
"That's Eska and Desna, the Chief's children. Desna is a guy." Korra explains to Bolin's dismay.
Bolin starts coughing uncomfortably. "Oh, no, sure. I knew that...and which one is Desna?"
Before anyone could answer his query, the snooty family stops before us. Her uncle stands in front of Korra and bows at her presence. "Good to see you again, Avatar Korra."
"Good to see you too." She greets back kindly.
I grow uninterested in interacting further with the Northern Tribe's chief, so I turn my heel and turn to face Iroh. "I think the festival should be starting now." I inform him. "Do you want to go?"
"Shouldn't we wait for your friends? So you can catch up?" He questions, raising an eyebrow.
I shake my head and press my lips together. "No, it's okay. I think it'd be nice to just hang out with you for another while."
"If you say so." Iroh says, a light smile forming on his lips. "I'm more than happy to hang out just the two of us for a while longer."
☾ ☾ ☾
"I don't think I've ever eaten this much food in my entire life." Iroh says, holding unto his stomach as we're walking around the stands, lights hanging from above shining down on the both of us.
"Are you seriously saying that the general of the United Forces can't handle a little bit of food?" I tease, taking a bite of my cotton candy.
"A little bit?" He echoes. "You've been feeding me non-stop, Luna. I literally can't understand how you're still eating."
I chuckle. "Well, I grew up here. There's no food I can't handle."
"Well, apparently the Fire Nation failed me on the food aspect."
"They totally did." I say with a big smile. "Besides, I hate to break it to you, but we still have to go to the dinner."
Iroh's eyes go wide and he turns to look at me incredulously. "You mean this wasn't dinner?"
"Nope." I say, whilst popping the 'p.' "It was like a plethora of pre-dinner snacks."
"I'm going to die from food poisoning." Iroh mutters, looking genuinely scared.
"You didn't die from the cold and you won't die from the food." I assure him. "Come on, my family's probably waiting at the table for us."
I grab Iroh's hand and guide him through the crowd. We make our way towards the grand dinner banquet thing that is one of my favorite parts of the festival, clearly because of the food. Once we make it to the entrance, I scan the surfeit of tables that are spread around the room, trying to find the one where my family is sitting at.
I immediately spot Gran-Gran, sitting with Uncle Tenzin, Uncle Bumi, and mom. With my hand still holding Iroh's I take us to the table, and we sit in the two empty chairs next to Gran-Gran.
"Looks like someone is trying to take your place as the Avatar's stick-in-the-mud mentor." I hear Uncle Bumi tease Uncle Tenzin.
I furrow my eyebrows as I look in complete and utter awe at the food on the plate before me. I wonder what he means by that, because to my knowledge Uncle Tenzin is both Korra's airbending and spiritual teacher.
"Bumi, don't pick on Tenzin." My mom defends. "You know he's always been sensitive."
Uncle Tenzin crosses his arms over his chest, clearly annoyed at his siblings. "I'm not sensitive!"
The two laugh at the airbender, and I turn to see Gran-Gran looking upset at how the three are interacting. As I swallow a bite of my delicious food, I turn to face my uncle. "Uncle Bumi, what did you mean when you said that someone was trying to replace Uncle Tenzin?"
"Oh, it's just that the snooty chief-guy kept on boasting about his knowledge of spirits." He explains. "Apparently Korra was interested."
"She was?" I repeat, not believing my ears. What is wrong with Korra lately? Does she not realize how important Tenzin is on her journey as the Avatar?
I feel Iroh nudge me slightly with his elbow. I look up at him. "Are you okay?" He queries. "You're making a face."
"I'm good, I think." I affirm, looking at him intently. "It's just that I have a weird feeling about this whole thing."
As if on cue, Korra's uncle stands up, resulting in the whole room to become silent. I roll my eyes, seeing as he has a holier-than-thou complex that is really pissing me off. Just because the North is known to always have been more advanced, it doesn't mean he gets to treat us like we're worth less than him.
"As your Chief, it is my honor to speak at this festival, which was founded to bring our tribes together and restore the ancient balance between our world and that of the sprits. But I am saddened to see what it has become – a cheap carnival that celebrates greedy and trivial humans. I fear the time is fast approaching when the North can no longer stand idly by while our Southern brothers slip into total spiritual decay. Angry spirits are already attacking ships in your waters. I only hope we are not too late to change course."
With that, he sits down and continues to eat his meal as if he hadn't been a disrespectful man with a superiority complex. I clench my fists and try my best not to go on stage and beat the guy up.
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word count: 2334
status: unedited
*thank u all for all ur love and support! u inspire me to keep writing <3