Heads or Tails: Book 1 ~ Arin's Tale

A Flood of Changes

Heads or Tails

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Book 1 – Arin's Tale

I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender or Legend of Korra or any of the characters. Only the OC's.

Chapter 5: A Flood of Changes

Opal's POV 

Time: 191 A.G.

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"Did you and Mako ever play together much growing up?"

"Eh, it was more of playing and fighting, but never this much."

Me and Bolin stood by the courtyard's edge, leant against the railing as we watch the kids play around in the middle: Noren, Nera, Hana, and Arin. It's been three years since Arin joined our little family and they've been growing closer together as a family every single time. Those dreadful days of her mysterious and unsolvable past were long forgotten by now.

Laughter reaches our ears as snowballs are bent and flung at them from nearby fountains, splattering on the brick floor by none other than Hana, daughter of Huan, our niece. Her father's long black hair, mother's blue eyes; at eight-years-old Hana was younger than her cousins, yet is still one of the most talented waterbender's I've seen at her age. While they live in the temple with us, due to the peaceful atmosphere or so he claims, it brought Hana much closer to her cousins, which now included nine-year-old Arin. The wavy dark-brown hair, now kept in a metallic ponytail, and blue-eyed wonder was never bothered by the fact that she lived much differently than most benders of her element, or from her other family. Aside from the occasional visits to Zaofu, the Southern Air Temple was all she has ever known as a home.

Along with their physical outcome, their bending has strengthened as well over the years. Arin and Nera have been training with Bolin more, while still having fun like a normal child should, as can be seen as they continue to dodge Hana's water ball wrath. Hana receives her training from Kya, even though it's only through the occasional visits every few weeks, she teaches her as much as she can during that time while making sure she isn't overloaded. And while she's gone, Hana trains some with the other kids, including the ones around the temple until she gets back. Noren has been doing extremely well, having mastered airbending now, and will receive his mastery tattoos in just one more month at the annual Summer Festival. In the meantime, he's enjoying his thick black hair while he can.

Splash! "Aack!"

Speaking of the little airbender ...

A shout from Noren disrupts their little game of bender tag, as one of Hana's water ball's had plopped him in the face, causing his wet hair to drip over his face, covering everything except for the obvious pout on his lips. The girls' giggles increase, growing louder with squeals as Noren puffs the water off him with a shield of air emitting from his body and takes off after the now-running duo. Nomads, kids, adults, and air acolytes alike are unfazed by the young Beifong's; it's quite a normal occurrence to see around the temple.

"Buuut we didn't pull as many tricks on each other as they do either," Bolin comments with a shrug, laughter following after, my own joining in. "You know, after the Summer Festival, we should take them to the Southern Water Tribe, that way Hana can experience the other waterbenders there and can see Kya more. You know she doesn't get to see that many too much. It'll still be cold, but with it being summer, it'll be a little warmer than usual at least."