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𝐅rom behind them, a large and ornate ship approached across the water━specifically a royal Northern Water Tribe ship━docked on the other side of the pier. The crowd on the snowy land clapped and cheered at the sight of it. Cloud couldn't be happier to see Unalaq and his twin children as they departed the ship, walking down the plank to the pier, accompanied by a bunch of guards.
"Petty," Cloud hummed, earning an amused look from her beautiful aunt.
Unalaq and his group approached them. Cloud instinctively scooted closer to her family, standing next to the children as they watched the man walked towards the Avatar who was standing with Mako and Bolin. Unfortunately, he was Korra's uncle and his evil spawns were obviously her cousins.
After that, they continued their way further to the festival. Cloud became ecstatic at the sight of the mouth-watering foods around them, although she was only able to eat the fruits. Arriving at the enormous hall made out of ice where a large feast was happening, Korra sat at the head table with her family while Cloud sat with her own; her father, Kya, Tenzin and Katara in another table in the hall. The five overheard the conversation at the head table, making them share looks with each other.
"Looks like someone's trying to take your place as the Avatar's stick-in-the-mud mentor," Bumi snickered.
"Bumi, don't pick on Tenzin," Kya said with a teasing tone. "You know he's always been sensitive."
"I'm not sensitive!" The youngest of them said defensively.
Cloud, who was listening to their bickering, chuckled under her breath as the two eldest teased the living mind out of the poor airbender master. After Unalaq's encouraging speech about the festival and spirits, Varrick stood up to give a speech of his own, and somehow, she was looking forward to it rather than the Water Tribe chief's speech.
"Chief Unalaq everybody, always great to have him in town. Now, let's have some fun with Wacky Wushu's Dancing Otter penguins!"
As he said that, a man dressed in purple danced onto the stage, and bended a stream of water onto the platform as three otter penguins slid along the water, before sliding back and stopped in front of Wushu. They all took a bow for the audience. Cloud clapped as loud as she can with a little hollering, earning a few judging looks from other people which she merely flashed a shit-eating grin at.
Cloud was jumping on one stall after another, fiddling with random games and eating a lot of different foods (mostly fruits) on a stick. The couple, Mako and Korra, and Bolin has a clear sight of the carefree woman as she bounced towards another stall. For some reason, it put a hint of a smile on their faces as they watched her in the corner of their eyes.
She didn't realize that Korra had another quarrel with Mako when the dark-haired girl walked off, leaving the firebender alone with mixed feelings. Bolin had ran off towards Unalaq's twins earlier, and she grimaced on the inside. Eska would never let him go. As in ever. She knew the girl. She and her twin brother, Desna, were a bit of an eerie person, but they were kind of cool too even though those twins can't socialize for their life.
Cloud can't say the same for herself. She can be annoying sometimes, even she admits that. She walked towards Mako, who looked dejected as he held a cute stuff toy of a flying bison. A snicker escaped her lips as she sightly smacked his back, earning a quiet hiss from him although it didn't even hurt. He was just surprised, but then his expression fell again.
"What'd you do this time?" Cloud raised an eyebrow at him.
His eyes twitched in annoyance, looking at her short figure. "What? I didn't do anything!"
"Right..." Cloud simply narrowed her eyes at her childhood friend as he avoided her questioning stare.
"Well, I thought Korra wanted me to be supportive of her, but then she got angry at me because I told her she should do what she thinks is right!" Mako eventually spilled, gripping his hair with one hand from frustration as he explained. He looked at her, almost desperately. "Was there anything wrong with what I said?"
Cloud lightly winced at his frustration and placed a hand on his shoulder, and gave him a comforting squeeze, but the words that came out of her lips were nowhere near comforting. She flashed him an awkward toothy smile. "Well, I could list out a few if you want?"
"Ugh! Cloudy, you're not helping." Mako groaned and slapped a hand to his face before he walked off with the toy bison clutched in his arms.
"It'd be helpful to be aware, you know!" Cloud called, raising her voice as she watched the firebender's disappear back to wherever.
The airbender was still awake when everyone went to sleep. Cloud sat outside her little hut, catching snowflakes with her warm hands, the snow melting at her touch. She was at peace until something started howling throughout the night. She looked up and saw Naga, and even when Korra ran out to hush him, the polar bear dog continued to howl for some odd reason. Bolin and Mako appeared behind the Avatar and she squinted her eyes from afar to see what was going on.
Shivers went through her spine, feeling some sort of negative energy coming from somewhere. Her heart began to race a bit faster than usual. Cloud abruptly stood up from the wooden chair and looked in a distance, her eyes instantly widening at what she saw. A dark entity was speeding towards them and it didn't look any friendly. She didn't waste any time to run towards her friends.
"What, is, that?"
As soon as those words escaped the Avatar's mouth, the spirit quickly made its way toward Korra. But as it was about to attack her, Cloud came sliding through a snowbank and did a side flip, delivering an air swipe towards the dark entity with her legs. It was pushed away from them, but soon regained its balance and wacked the brunette across the face with its strange body.
Cloud tried to cushion her fall but still rolled down the snow, coughing out the snow that got in her mouth and from the pain. Her nostrils flared with annoyance. So much for a peaceful night.
