While The Parents Are Away

Chapter 11

"Any luck?" Tenzin whispered to Zari.

"No. The conditions are" the Prince opened his eyes, "less than ideal."

The cell the two of them were locked in together with Bumi truly wasn't a spiritual place. Going into the Spirit World from there was hard, but somehow Zari managed it. Even if it was just for a few seconds.

"Yeah. I mean, not even I could get to the Spirit World. And I'm the Avatar's son." Tenzin added nervously. He was actually so happy the young firebender was with them, because if he wasn't they would be doomed since Tenzin was beginning to realize no amount of necessity would help him enter the Spirit World. There had to be another way...

"Looks like you're too scared to concentrate today, Tez. " Bumi teased, but then noticed the look on his brother's face, "But it's OK, we understand. Dad will understand. The most important thing is that we got our message out. Now we just wait."

"I really tried to connect again. But I can't." Zari cut in, "And even if I do, there is no guarantee Su will even be there. It's been hours."

No one had anything to add to that so they all just looked around the dimly lit cell, getting lost in their thoughts. Bumi tried to inspect his burned shoulder, but the pain of moving it was too much. He decided to wait for a healer before doing anything with it.

"I'm sorry we were caught." Zari said out of the blue.

"I'm sorry, too." Tenzin added, "But we couldn't have known there would be so many of them. It was out of our hands."

"Yeah, little man." Bumi smiled, "We did the best we could. Let's just hope the others did better than us."

"I just keep thinking about Kya. Her having to go alone..." Tenzin realized his comment might not have been helpful.

"Hey, unlike our sorry selves, Kya can hold her own. And so can Lin. And so can Izumi." Bumi wondered what was happening to the Princess as they were trapped here. He really hoped she was back in Azula's hideout, safe, catching up with everyone. And maybe... Thinking about him.

"But I really am sorry I couldn't blast that guy..." Zari looked at the floor.

"Listen to me..." Bumi wanted to put his hands on the boy's shoulder, but the chains prevented him, "It was wrong of us to leave the whole mission on you. It was too much to ask. Besides... We all know our team is one fantastic bender short because of me."

"But you were hurt because I couldn't focus. I... I shouldn't have even gone. I should have stayed home and kept to my books." Zari said.

"Don't even joke about that!" Bumi raised his voice, "We need you. And I don't mean just the bending. We need that spirit thing you do... And, most of all, you're actually fun to have around. Like a... Little brother I never had."

"Hey!" Tenzin interrupted.

"Face it, Tez, you were never my little brother... You always acted like you're the oldest."

"Well, I can't help being responsible! You act like it's a bad thing..."

"No, it's not," Bumi started, "I just don't want you to miss out."

"On what? Teenage debauchery, like you and Kya? Because not everyone enjoys that, you know..."

"Look, I'm not Mom, or Dad, I'm not gonna tell you what to do, brother. I just see you... Spending every free day studying airbender culture or out on spiritual trips with Dad... Do you even wanna go on those? Or worse yet, spotting a cute girl and immediately thinking about marriage and whether she'd wanna have children... You look like you're under so much pressure... You need to have more fun."