Ava: The Lost Daughter

Chapter 1

I froze and dropped my book on the ground. It made sort of a loud thump that caught the others attention.

"Who is that?" I heard a young girl ask.

"That's my niece, Ava. She is an airbender as well" My aunt told her.

"Wait your niece. So does that mean she is like, Chief Beifong's daughter? Cause like that would be really weird." A young man said, laughing a little like the idea of it was crazy.

I turned around to face the group. I had waited twenty five years for this. To finally meet my mother. She never bothered to show up and the one time it did was because Opal had gained airbending. I turned away and ran off. The tears streamed down my face. When I found my room I slammed the door behind me and clicked the lock in place. Not like it would work with a metal bender, but it made the distance feel further. I threw myself onto the bed and just let myself cry. When I finally stopped I started to think about all those time that I screamed for my mom at night, or fell down and hoped it was my mom that helped me up but it never was. When I first walked and talked. My first day at school and my last. All these moments when she should have been there and never was. She was practically a stranger. I didn't leave when it was dinner time. I think Aunt Su knew I wouldn't be there. Eventually I fell asleep.

The next day I finally decided to leave my room. I hadn't eaten anything and was feeling rather hungry so I went for breakfast. I felt a wave of relief when my mother wasn't there. I wasn't quite ready to meet her. When I entered they all looked up at me.

"Ava, it's so nice of you to finally join us." My aunt said with a smile.

"I'm sorry I ran off yesterday before I met you all. I was feeling a little... overwhelmed" I explained as I took a seat.

"There is no need to apologize Ava. You had a good reason to run off like that." My aunt reassured me. "Ava, this is Avatar Korra and her friends, Bolin, Mako, and Asami."

"It's nice to meet you all" I gave them a smile as I picked at my food. I was hungry but the want to eat wasn't there.

"So, have you ever... you know... met your mother?" Korra asked me. She would go right for the sensitive topic. I shook my head.

"When I was a few days old she dropped me off here. It was storming that night and she left me out in front. She didn't even enter the city. A couple of guards found me and brought me to my aunt. Of course at the time they didn't know. There was a letter inside the fold of my blanket explaining that I was Lin daughter and she didn't want me because she wasn't cut out for being a mother. I grew up hearing stories about her and a dream to meet her. I guess it was a bad dream. She seems to have very little interest in meeting me. She waited twenty five years before finally coming here." I explained to her.

"Well, to be fair, you did kinda, runoff" Bolin added. "Wait sorry, that sounded mean!" I chuckled a little.

"It's okay. All the dreams in the world couldn't really prepare me for the moment and when it finally came, all I could think about was the fact that she didn't want me. I wasn't ready to face her and she seemed fine not meeting me yet." I told him. "If you don't mind I think I'm going to finish this in my room. I'm in the middle of a very interesting story and I really want to know how it ends"

"You can go" my aunt said with a nod. I grabbed my plate and some fruit and left the room just as my two youngest cousins entered.

I reentered my room and placed the plate on the table. I grabbed the book I was reading, which my aunt must have returned after I fell asleep, and sat down in the chair to continue. After a few hours I heard a commotion outside. I glanced out my window to see what was going on but all I could see was rocks, dirt, and metal. I ran out of my room, down the hall and out the front door. It was almost like a battle and it was between my mother and my aunt. I watched in horror as my aunt managed to throw my mother back and she hit a staircase. Even from here I could see she was weak and tired. The two of them each lifted huge rocks and were about to throw them at each other when Opal jumped in and stopped them. I then watched as my mother collapsed and fell to the ground.