Who am I without you?

Home bound

"We're only a few hours out". Ayani said as they walked through a huge forest in the earth kingdom. "I think the way back we should take a different way. Mix it up as one last adventure".

Kya laughed lightly. "You act like we're never going anywhere ever again".

"I mean we won't be doing it as much, but we will do small missions for awhile. I want to enjoy my new life". She said. Ayani was excited to experience the life Kya had lived before they met. She was excited to have a family again.

"Yeah, it's going to be great". Kya smiled, taking her wife's hand as they walked. The path they took through the trees was relaxing. It was quiet, the only sounds were the animals and the leaves rustling in the wind around them. "Are we camping out or keeping going until we get to the ship?" 

"We should make it before nightfall. I have an old friend meeting us there to help with our things". Ayani squeezed her hand.

Kya raised an eyebrow. "You have old friends? I didn't know you had any friends at all".

"Wow babe...thanks for reminding me" She joked, nudging Kya with her shoulder. "The friend is a polar bear dog" She chuckled.

"Saber? How did you get him to meet us there?"

"The man who runs the boats said he saw him roaming around while we had been gone. He recognized him, fed him and said he would have him waiting for us". Ayani smiled.

Kya smiled back at her. "I'm so glad someone took care of him. I'm sure he couldn't find us and panicked". Saber was a sweetheart, he started coming around when he was a pup and never left. His mother nowhere around and they searched for her even, so they took him in, but let him still be wild. They were both against domesticating him.

The next two hours went by relatively quickly, only being about twenty minutes from the ship. The sun starting to get lower in the sky but still giving off plenty of light.

"I love this time of day...I'm going to miss it". Kya sighed, the sun and snow was something she could see forever. It was a winter wonderland.

Ayani kissed her cheek. "We'll find somewhere else to make our sunset spot. It'll be a lot of fun to find new things like that".

"I know, but you know me...I get attached to things like that".

"I promise we can keep the house up here and then use it as a vacation. I'm not giving up my childhood home". Ayani looked up at the sun beyond the trees. "The clearing should be coming up. We're close to home".

"Remember when we first came back to the North? After we met and you told me I could follow you like a lost dog?" Kya chuckled.

"I was hoping you'd say yes. I know I was pretty abrasive about it, I'm sorry for ever being a bitch".

Kya stopped them and looked at her, meeting her blue eyes. "I love you, I loved you the moment I met you. Never apologize to me for who you are or were".

Ayani smiled, getting ready to reply when a branch broke nearby, putting her into defense mode. "We need to get to the clearing".

Kya nodded in agreement. It was safer for them if they had open area to see. Not that they necessarily would need an advantage it was more than likely another traveller, but from experience you couldn't be too sure. They continued until the edge of the forest, there had been no other sounds indicating a human approaching.

"Must have been one of the animals getting curious. Remember that time we were walking through that ice cave and the penguin following us kept knocking over ice chunks?"  Kya laughed.

She shook her head with a smile. "He was so clumsy and cute. Sometimes I really wish I could keep some of these animals we meet".

"Yeah me too".

They took a deep breath at nearly the same time and as they let it out; a man walked through the trees on the far end of the clearing. He was tall, built sturdy, and was dressed nicely...other than some scuff marks on his pants and shirt. His hair was slicked back and he had a darkness in his blue eyes. Both women completely alert and studying this man.

"Well, well. If isn't Avatar Aangs daughter. What are the odds!" His voice boomed deeply. Kya cringing at the sound of her fathers name coming from this man, immediately realizing who he was, her stance stiffening.

Ayani looked between the two. "Who is this Kya?"

"Not someone we want to bother...". She was not noticeably afraid to anyone's untrained eye, but Ayani could see it. The slight shakiness to Kya's left shoulder, the right calf muscle twitching. She knew every tell that her wife had.

Ayani looked back at the man. "We're passing through, we don't want any trouble".

He nearly cackled. "No trouble? I was thinking more along the lines of a nice reunion". 

"Reunion of what?" Kya spat out. "What are you doing out here?"

"Just on my way from a visit back home". He said, taking a step closer. "Your father sent me away to negotiate but I found he has an operation waiting for me in the city. He's going to betray the council".

Kya's foot shifted back slightly. "What do you mean by that? My father would never betray anyone".

He looked at her with a twinge of anger behind his eyes. "He's planning on locking me away, taking everything I've done and throwing it away. I won't let him do that".

"I have nothing to do with my father's politics, we're passing through like she said, *Yakone*".

Ayani's eyes widened, looking at him. "*Yakone...why do I know that name*" She tried to rack her brain for an answer, she heard it before somewhere, a long time ago when she was younger...Kilik told her stories about a blood bender who was said to have killed families, people who opposed him. It had been an old rumor though...not many believed or spoke about it. "Kya...we need to move".

"To where exactly? I see absolutely no openings to work with". She replied quietly.

Ayani took a breath. Yakone's gaze and smirk on them. "We're going to have to fight our way out..."