CHANGE | CHAPTER ONE
𝐀 lot can happen within just two weeks, especially when there are now lively and petty spirits living among the people. It wasn't the most ideal to some. Wild vines had sprouted all over the city, creating pockets of wilderness the spirits had come to call home. From Cloud's point of view, she thought it was great but people have different opinions on the recent events.
Cloud, however, liked to spend time with the peculiar and interesting spirits she came across. They were truly a breath of fresh air. She liked the way they surrounded her in peace every time she meditated at the top of the hill. Other than that, she gets to enjoy bonding with her little cousins and her father more often, and it was never boring because of the unique spirits.
The young airbender sat around the table, eating their dinner. Ever since Tenzin's brother and sister had come along, the house was never in silence. She continued munching on her lettuce, watching with furrowed eyebrows as her father continued to imitate airbending moves after he told them he accidentally airbended himself from falling to his death. Cloud believed him. She was just waiting to see the actual thing.
"Stop waving your arms around at the table," Tenzin said irritably. "It's not funny anymore."
"It's not a joke," Bumi insisted just as Asami and Korra walked inside the dining area.
"What's up with him?" Korra asked, glancing at the daughter but Cloud only shrugged, slightly grinning when Meelo threw a piece of lettuce at her face that she caught with her fork.
"Bumi says he airbended earlier, but he can't now. Oh, and I guess he's not very good at knitting either." Bolin shrugged before a grin appeared on his face. "I gotta say, I love being a part of this family."
"You got the grumpy dad, the wacky uncle, the put-upon mom," He listed out the peculiar family members, then he glanced at the cousins who kept messing with each other. Meelo even placed a chopstick on either side of his mouth. "Crazy kids. Well, that's just great."
"Where's Mako?" Asami asked, noticing there was no sign of the firebender.
Cloud looked up from her food and scrunched her face at the thought of the police officer. "Oh, you mean that brooding adolescent? He's staying in the police station."
"Still?" Korra frowned.
"I tried to drag him back here," Cloud shrugged before she continued stuffing her face with vegetables.
"I told him Tenzin invited us to stay here since our apartment is a vine habitat now, but," Bolin said and styled his hair like his brother, mimicking his usual upset tone. "He said he had to focus on work."
"Oh, did you see that? I think the napkin moved," Bumi exclaimed, taking the attention of the people around him.
"You blew on it," Kya retorted, annoyance etched on her face.
"Wait!" He pondered. "Maybe I can only do it when my life is in danger. Bolin, bend a giant boulder at me."
"Yeah, I don't think that's a good idea."
"If you're going to be bending giant boulders, you can do it outside."
"No one is bending giant boulders!" However, when Tenzin slammed the table with his fist, his youngest son suddenly copied him and abruptly grabbed a plate. Meelo grinned as he threw the plate at the man. "Look alive, Uncle Bumi!"
Bumi looked on in fear and stretched out his hands, stopping the plate in a ball of air. The rest of the table looked at him in total surprise, Meelo had his mouth open, gaping at his uncle, even Bumi himself was surprised at what he did.
"I told you!" Bumi said excitedly.
His daughter cheered from her seat, lightly punching the air from delight. "I knew it!"
"You believed me?"
"I never doubted you in the first place, Dad."
Tenzin continued to gape at him. "Unbelievable. You're actually an airbender."
"Wait 'till I tell Mom, she's gonna love this," The oldest out of the three children of Aang grinned from ear to ear.
Cloud stood in the distance beside her family, watching her father as he tried to airbend again. The former commander grumbled under his breath, irritated that he couldn't even summon a light breeze.
"Do you think being in the Spirit World during Harmonic Convergence could have given him bending?" She heard Korra asked to the oldest airbender.
"I suppose it's possible."
"Maybe Uncle Bumi is just a late bloomer," Ikki suggested, and Cloud nodded in agreement since that's what she thought when she first found out. After all, she was also a late bloomer.
"Invisible spirit monster attack?"
The brown-haired airbender turned around, the voice coming from a certain chief of police. A grin only lit up her face when she saw Lin with Mako trailing beside her. He looked tired, exhausted, and bothered for some reason. She decided she would pester him about it later. There was no way he was going to suffer alone.
"Lin, you won't believe this. Bumi just started airbending," Tenzin told her. Lin and Mako's eyes widened in surprise.
Lin pursed her lips. "I'm afraid he's not the only one."
"What?" Tenzin, Korra, and Cloud said at once, disbelief etched on their faces.
"I got a call last night," Mako informed them. "About a guy who just started airbending out of nowhere."
"You mean there's another one? Where is he now?"
"He... blew a door down on me and got away. We got an all-points bulletin out on him right now."
As Mako and Lin started walking away, Cloud looked at her two female companions, sharing a look with them before jogging after the firebender. Mako looked quite surprised at their presence. He couldn't even look at them in the eyes. For a second, Cloud felt bad, feeling like they were intruding on his space.
"Wait, we'll help you look for him," Korra told him. "Where should we start?"
"Oh, well, y'know, you should leave it with the police," Mako began to stutter out a response, visibly avoiding making eye contact with any of them. "It's... police business. Y'know. It's, um... official."
"Okay." Korra nodded, oblivious to his awkwardness. "How are you doing? You know, you're welcome to stay here instead of sleeping at the police station."
"No, I'm fine. I should just, get going. So, as you were." Mako sent them a salute, which was understandable for Cloud but not for the two women beside her. "Ladies." He marched off hurriedly, which made Asami and Korra looked at each other in confusion.
Cloud had seen him act awkward before, and she had a feeling why.
The persistent airbender followed her childhood friend back to the police station and found him leaning over his messy desk with his hands over his temples. She had never seen him so glum and tired, even after all those times she spent with him. Sure, he was already grouchy, but never this tired.
The Mako she knows would always find ways to compose himself just for the sake of his little brother. Even if he was the one suffering, he would do anything for Bolin. The only family he's got left.
Almost like he felt her presence━well, her loud footsteps were a dead giveaway━Mako looked up from his table and glanced at the incoming airbender with a confused look etched on his face. He tried to look less glum, running his fingers through his hair, but he knew Cloud had already figured him out like an open book.
She looked bright, as always. Even when she doesn't adorn a smile or her signature grin on her face, Cloud still manages to look flawless. Everything about her pretty much screams light and chaos, but the good kind of chaos, if there was even one. He might've been called the human version of a period cramp, but the lady before him was the human version of clouds. She lived up to her name.
"Hey there, playboy." Cloud grinned, sitting on the edge of his desk as the firebender straightened up on his chair, letting out a subtle yawn. "What are you up to?"
"What are you..." Mako cleared his throat, narrowing his golden eyes at her. "You know what, never mind."
"Oh, come on. Tell me." Cloud pouted at him and reached for his head, ruffling his gelled hair as the boy tried to swat it away. His hair was already messed up, sticking in different places and Mako let out a quiet sigh.
After he succeeded in getting her hand off his ruined hairstyle, Mako stared at her with a blank expression on his face, but as always, she managed to see through his façade. She shook her head at him. "You know that doesn't work on me, buddy. So I suggest you spill all of it, like, right now."
He eventually gave up after a few persuading, although it felt more like she was guilt-tripping him into something he didn't do. She could almost be a goddess, luring people and using her voice to the answers she wants from them. Mako had spilled his thoughts to her, and the airbender listened until he had nothing to say anymore, and that's when she began to give him some advice.
Bits of advice that included some sarcastic remarks and a whole bunch of jokes, yet somehow, Mako felt a little relieved that he got some of his strained feelings out. He trusted her enough to not tell anyone else. Besides, Cloud always has a way of making him feel less bad with just her presence.
Even though Cloud doesn't seem like the most trustworthy person in the world, she can keep her secrets even if she doesn't look like it. She knows where she stood, and she never crossed lines━I mean, never, even if she has to. You have to torture her to get the words to come out of her closed mouth, and that would take decades. As talkative as she was, she'd never spill someone else's secret to the world.
I guess, that's one of the things Mako always liked about her.