WIP

[abitofawildman]

They call him up from the galley.

"We just saw it, and didn't want you to miss him fly by," was all they said.

Sky Bison off the port bow.

Bumi laughed, shaking his head as he stood and made his way above deck. His smile fell however, when he looked up and noticed Appa had no rider and no saddle. It wasn't like the old boy to just wander off, which meant...oh. Oh no.

Without word Bumi turned to go back in the direction he'd just come from, moving below deck again towards his quarters. He packed in earnest. This wasn't his father zipping past, or stopping by for a visit, this was something else entirely.

The ship rocked as the ten ton sky bison landed with a thud on the main deck. Bumi appeared moments later, a small bag slung over one shoulder.

"Commander, what are you doing?"

"Leaving."

"But you can't just...go."

"Watch me."

"Your command!"

"Relieve me of it. Label me a deserter or a traitor, I don't care which. Do what ever you like. I'm getting off this boat."

He doesn't look back, Bumi stays his course towards the sky bison, who lowers just enough to allow the man to climb onto its back.

If it wasn't bad they would have messaged.
If it wasn't urgent Appa wouldn't have come.
If it wasn't life threatening Kya would be there to keep him company during the trip.

When Bumi is seated comfortably on Appa's neck he looks up to find that his entire crew has appeared to see him off. He sits up straight and offers them a salute, which they all return once they too have found their way to attention.

"Yip yip," he says and Appa's tail comes crashing down down for lift off.

As they rise into the clouds and head towards Air Temple Island Bumi knows that his father is dying.

Comments

[spiralmovements]

"Appa went to find Bumi, Dad," Tenzin told his father this morning. He will be happy to see his brother, just as he was with Kya.

But they will want him to talk and now is not the time.

Tenzin is in his father's office, returning letters and keeping up appearances while his heart falls to pieces. Some of the acolytes notice, when he hears their daily business the way his father normally would. Some don't, and he likes that better. He'd prefer to hide.

Katara practically lives in Aang's sickroom now, easing any pain - though his father swears there isn't any (physically). When the morning's duties are discharged, Tenzin silently walks into the kitchens to make a small tray for his parents and take it to the door.

"Tenzin, I can hear you, son." From inside the room.

"Yes, Mother." And he opens the door, leaving the tray on a side table just inside the entrance way, and he takes a habitual position kneeling on a cushion at the foot of his father's bed.

[haventlosthope]

Long before she was a healer, Katara had been learning to mend things that she knew, in her heart, were irreparable. That even when things couldn't be fixed, when there were no second chances, there was still always something left to offer. Waterbending gives her the clarity to not only sense, but know the difference: when she can put things right, when she can ebb the damage, and when she can only ease the inevitable.

It allows her to act as she needs to. But it doesn't really help.

She doesn't look up when her son enters the room, apparently preoccupied as a thread of water glimmers blue beneath her hands, illuminating her face as she directs it along her husband's chest, and over his heart. Though focused, her eyes are barely open, and her mouth is set. Katara maintains the movement over Aang's heart for a moment, then only allows herself to exhale slightly as she pulls the water back into the basin on the floor next to her, and turns to look to the tray.

Quietly, "Thank you, Tenzin."

[12goingon113]

Aang's breathing, once labored by comparison, now eases and his body stills as he continues to sleep.

The ice that had long protected him from the storms of the southern sea as well as the rages of both Ozai and Azulon, has taken its toll on his body. Humans are delicate beings when it comes right down to it, and the Avatar is only human.

In the past few days Aang has found it harder and harder to distinguish the Real world from that of the Spirit. Half sleeping he can often be heard whispering to his past lives as they prepare for his arrival. Upon waking he has no recollection of what had transpired.

[spiralmovements]

For someone so practiced at stillness, this is a time when all Tenzin wants is to move - or blow away.

"How is he faring?" Tenzin whispers to his mother, already speaking as though Aang isn't there.

(Because he isn't. Not really.)

[haventlosthope]

Katara, on the other hand, is feeling heavy as a stone. She's not sure she could move, if she wanted to.

She looks to her son, and then back to Aang. Her hands rise again, but for now, the water stays in the basin.

"I think he's resting easier," she answers.

"But some of it is beyond my power."

[spiralmovements]

"I could -- " which drifts off.

"The next time he wakes, I could stay with him. Help as much as I can. Perhaps I can -- " I don't know! " -- think of something. I suppose.





"Would you care to eat, Mother?"

[haventlosthope]

"Of - of course, son."

Like the first word, her hands hesitate in the air, and it's a moment before she looks up again. It's not Tenzin she's hesitant about, though she know that must be how it looks, and she silently chides herself for it.

Still, Katara takes the time to be absolutely certain there is nothing more she can do in this moment, before she looks back to Tenzin.

She gives her son a small, obligatory smile that doesn't reach her eyes, but answers, "As a matter of fact, I would."

(She's not actually hungry, but also not entirely sure of when she'd eaten last. It wouldn't do to starve herself.)

[spiralmovements]

Tenzin stands again in order to retrieve the food he'd brought in earlier.

It's all rote - movement and coming back to sit alongside his mother, fidgeting with utensils and placing a bowl at her right hand.







But silence can get to be too much, even for a monk of the Air Temple Island.

"This is wrong." All of it.

[haventlosthope]

Katara could say that it was natural. Meant to be. That in some ways, every moment they'd had with Aang had been on borrowed time.

She doesn't.

She lifts the bowl, and looks sideways at Tenzin, as though inviting him to continue if he wishes to.

[abitofawildman]

The trip seems longer than it should be, and Bumi isn't sure if it's his own anxiety making it appear that way, or if it's Appa moving slower than usual.

Probably a combination of both, he thinks to himself, as he gives the Sky Bison a loving pat on the head.

"Just like old times, eh boy? You coming to get me." Appa grunts noncommittally.

So many old times.
To say that Bumi made a habit of storming off in an effort to "run away" would be a sizable understatement. No matter the circumstances that prompted his attempted escape, his return home was always the same.

Once the fire of his anger had died down, and the uncertainty of best laid plans had set in, Appa would descend from the sky to take him home. Upon his return any apologies that needed to be made were dispensed with and life continued on in relative peace until the next time.

For years Bumi joked that by joining the United Forces he'd finally found a means to successfully run away from home, but as he watches as the sun rise from behind the distant mountains that surround Republic City, he comes to realize that maybe he wasn't so successful after all. That once again, and for one final time, Appa has appeared out of no where to carry him home.

Appa is tired after flying all night, and his landing isn't quite as graceful as it could be, which is really no matter because so few Acolytes are out in the courtyard at this hour of the morning.

There is however a woman in Northern Watertribe dress waiting for Bumi when he dismounts.

"it's been far too long," she whispers to him as they embrace.

"and under better circumstances if my memory serves."

Kya pulls back to look at him. "You've heard?"

"I figured." His voice is low, but doesn't waver. Not for a second.

[spiralmovements]

Tenzin is in his office again when an acolyte reports that Commander Bumi has arrived.

Several minutes later, Tenzin is walking out of the main temple building to find his siblings.

"Bumi," is all that happens at first in the way of greeting.

[abitofawildman]

Bumi is still holding his sister's hand when he turns to address his brother. "Tenzin," he responds in kind.

He's watching you, Tenzin. Looking for the whole story, or at very least the part of it that Kya may have left out or glossed over in her way.

[spiralmovements]

Tenzin at his most official holds a poker face pretty well.

Right now, he might as well be as expressionless as Monk Gyatso's shrine in the northern outbuilding.

"I can take you to Mother and Father now, or if you want to take a moment to yourself after flying so far -- "

[abitofawildman]

"That will be unnecessary. They've seen me far worse for wear than a touch sleep deprived and dashingly windblown."

He sees your poker face, Tenzin and raises.
Bumi turns towards their sister, silently inviting her along as well.

"I'm tending to mother's morning duties," she says giving Bumi's hand a squeeze. "When those are finished I'll join you. It's good to see you Bumi."

"You say that now," he says before bringing her hand up for a kiss.

Bumi lifts his bag from the ground, and once again slings it over one shoulder.

[spiralmovements]

Tenzin smiles at Kya's back as she leaves as though he meant to while she could still see him, but forgot.

"He probably is not awake right now, but Mother is with him. She will be happy to see you."

[abitofawildman]

It's a nice effort, albeit it late, Tenzin.

"That's all right, we had a nice talk on the flight in," says Bumi with a nod in Appa's direction. He gestures for Tenzin to lead on. "How's Mom?"

[spiralmovements]

"She is doing as much as she can, but rarely leaves Dad's side.

"I try to make sure she eats."

[abitofawildman]

The usual tranquil quiet of Air Temple Island is marred by sharp clomp of Bumi's United Forces regulation boots as he all but marches out of the main living quarters towards...well, to be honest he's not entirely sure where he's going.

[spiralmovements]

Tenzin's not sure either, but he lets Bumi lead.

(It's safer that way.)

Any acolytes they pass incline the heads at both Tenzin and Bumi, regardless of the noise the latter is making.

[abitofawildman]

Bumi pays absolutely no attention to anyone, or anything, that gets in his way. Well, that is until he reaches the cliff. He kind of stops at that point, just out of necessity.

Though, for a second there, it looks almost as if he sincerely thought about going over, just...to spite the cliff for getting in his way.

[spiralmovements]

"Is there anything I can do for you, brother?"

[abitofawildman]

He doesn't say anything for a good long time, never a good sign really. Because nothing good ever comes from Bumi taking the time to think.

Of course, very little good comes from him acting impulsively either.

"How long."

[spiralmovements]

"Not long. I was told six days ago, though I had suspicions that he was more seriously ill than he was disclosing about a week prior.

"I am sure that the only reason I was told when I was, was in order to facilitate the transitions."

All of them - spiritual and mundane.

[abitofawildman]

"Six days," he repeats, as if mulling it over. Bumi's shoulders clench and he turns towards his brother, suddenly furious.

"Six days!" he shouts. "All of that," he angrily gestures towards their family home. "In six days."

He all but accuses Tenzin of lying with his tone.

[spiralmovements]

"Six days. Mother said that...he did not wish to worry the rest of us."

The tone makes Tenzin stand straighter, shoulders tense. Tenzin looks about ready to flee or airbend into the blue.