The Girl After

Chapter 9

The Air Temple wasn't how I had imagine - but I'm not quite sure what I was expecting, either. The island resembled a very small city, and vaguely reminded me of the Fire Nation palace. Bolin was the most thrilled of us all upon arrival. Even Pabu chattering away excitedly. Behind us, Asami and Mako were cuddled up to one another, making Bolin and I pretend to gag.

Two small children ran onto the dock, a girl and a boy, both wearing airbender attire. "You're finally here!" The girl shrilled and waved at us. "Welcome to Air Temple Island - your new home!"

Bolin smiled, putting an arm around my shoulder as we disembark the ship. "You're going to love it here, Leinani," he said. "Air Temple Island is so cool."

The boy, perhaps about six years old, ran up to us. "Welcome to my domain!"

"Well," Bolin bends down to level with the boy, "aren't you sweet, little monk child?"

The boy looked at me and pointed at me, yelling, "Pretty lady!"

I flinched at the yelling, then laughed. "You're cute, kid," I said, which seemed to be the right response considering his attention instantly switched to Pabu.

"What's the fuzzy creature?" He asked in curiosity.

An older girl, maybe eleven or twelve, approached. "That is a fire ferret," she answered her presumable brother. The other girl giggled in delight, chasing a hissing Pabu around the Avatar's polar bear dog. The older girl looked up at me and said, plugging her ears to block out her sister's squealing, "My name is Jinora. Those are my siblings, Ikki and Meelo."

"I'm-"

"I know who you are," she cut me off with a half smile. "You're Leinani Ho. Granddaughter of Saki and Bao, daughter of-"

It was my turn to interrupt. "How do you already know so much about me?"

"I read," she explained, "a lot. You're a very interesting person, Leinani."

I smiled softly. "So you're the intellectual one," I said, much to her pleasure. "I like you already."

Jinora smiled and opened her mouth to say something, but she was cut off by Ikki's squealing. "Time for the grand tour!" Following the little girl, we explored the island. She pointed to her left as we walked, saying, "The flying bison sleep in those caves down there." She pointed upward at a tower, our gaze following her gestures. "That's the temple that Grandpa Aang built." She pointed to her right, concluding, "and that's that greenhouse where we grow the vegetables we eat!" She spins on her heels and smiles at us, though it dropped when Bolin spoke up.

"I have a couple of questions!" He blurted, the object of his attention changing every second. "Is this an all-vegetarian island? Is that where you train? Do we have to wear Air Acolyte clothes? Do we each get our own air bison? And, final question, how many trees are on this island?"

Smiling, Ikki answered just as rapidly. "Yes, yes, no, no, ten thousand five hundred and fifty two!"

We all stood dumbfounded. I can't speak for everyone else, but I was curious as to why she knew exactly how many trees were on island.

"So," Mako began awkwardly to break the silence, "where are we going to be staying?"

"You're a boy!" Meelo blurted. "Boys have to stay on the boys' side!" He pointed in what I guessed was the direction of the "boys' side".

Jinora finally speaks again, startling me as her voice rang from behind me. "I'd be happy to show you to the men's dormitory." With that, she was walking in towards their new home as Mako followed.

Korra, Ikki, and Dakota led me and Asami to our own rooms, which couldn't have been more awkward. Asami was mad at me, I didn't like Korra, Dakota and I were having boy problems, and Asami and Korra were passive aggressively fighting over Mako. It couldn't possible have been worse.

Well, perhaps it could.

As we walked through a corridor in our silence, Ikki said in her sweet voice, "Asami, did you know Korra likes Mako?"

"Oh, uh, no," Asami replied uncomfortably. "I wasn't completely aware of that."

Korra interjected, grabbing Asami by the elbow and yanking her into a room while saying, "Dakota and Ikki will show you to your room, Leinani!" She slammed the door shut. Ikki crossed her arms angrily and hugged before leading me to my room.

"I think you'll really like it here," Dakota said to me with a warm smile. Ever since we boarded the airship and she regained consciousness, Dakota had been acting strangely nice to me. Whether being attacked by Sato scrambled her brain and made her forget our fight, or she was plotting some twisted form of revenge, I wasn't sure. Either way, I didn't like it. She looked at me and asked, "Are you alright? You haven't said much since I woke up on the airship."

"I'm fine," I said dryly. "You're sure you don't remember anything?"

She nodded, looking annoyed. "Why does everyone keep asking me that?"

"No reason," I shrugged as we entered what was going to be my room. I looked around. Before I could say anything else, Dakota had already left. I sat on the bed and sighed, holding my head in my hands.

"Are you okay?" Ikki's voice startled me.

"I'm fine, little airbender," I said quietly. "I'm just tired, that's all."

"You're lying." Her hands were clasped behind her back as she cocked her head to the side. Her eyes were locked on me. "Daddy says lying is bad."

"Can't you see that something is bothering her, Ikki?" Jinora appeared in the room behind her sister, startling me as well.

"Spirits," I hissed as my heart pounded against my ribcage. "You kids need a bell tied to you."

Ignoring my comment, Jinora looked at her little sister and said, "Let's let her rest, Ikki. She's been through a lot." Reluctantly, the younger airbender nodded and followed her sister out of the room. They closed the door behind them and I flopped back on the bed.

Of course, my moment of peace was quickly cut short when a knock came on the door. I didn't reply in hopes of making the person go away, but this only encouraged them. "Leinani," Asami's voice called from the other side of the door. "Leinani, are you in there?" I didn't answer, but she opened the door anyway. She said bluntly, "We need to talk."

"You already know everything you need to know," I said without looking at her.

"No, I don't," she said, sitting next to me. "I want to know why, Leinani. Why did you help my father? Why help the Equalists when you know that they're awful people?"

I was hesitant to respond. Did I even have a good reason? I was beginning to believe that Mako was right, that I had some sort of vendetta against benders - simply because I wasn't one. "I don't know," was all I could think of.

"You don't know?" Asami parroted.

"At the time, I thought I was just working on a new project," I said. "When I found out what everything was for, I was already in too deep. Your father said that if I told anybody, I would be arrested with him."

She was quiet for a long time, lips pressed into a thin line. "I'm going to forgive you," she said, even though I didn't apologise. "I'm going to forgive you because I know you're not a malicious person. You're just... misguided."

I wanted to laugh. I wanted to tell that she'd no idea what I've done in my nineteen years in this world. Instead, I said, "Thank you." Asami pulled me up to a sitting position and hugged me tightly. I sighed and hugged her back.

"Now, come on," she said. "We've gotta find Korra and figure out our next move."