αιι Μθτλεr

ⁿⁱⁿᵉ

ʲᵉᵗ

˳༄꠶

         𝙍𝙝𝙚𝙖 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙩𝙖𝙠𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙤 𝙢𝙚𝙙𝙞𝙩𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙣 𝘼𝙥𝙥𝙖, 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙈𝙤𝙢𝙤 𝙤𝙣 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙡𝙖𝙥, 𝙨𝙚𝙣𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙖𝙙𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙩 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙘𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙖𝙠𝙚𝙧. Rhea's mind was finally blank from all her previous racing thoughts about what Katara had said. She, unlike her son whom she loved dearly- bless his heart- had always strayed further from the Air Monks teachings of peace and defense. After all, her one mission in life was to raise and protect her children, even if that meant to kill or die for them. 

That being said, she also had a stronger sense of loyalty to her kids, obviously, so when someone threatened to stray them from the best path, she wouldn't hesitate to kill, injure, or abandon the threat. In this case, Katara was that threat. 

After meeting Haru, the boy who started Katara's boy crush phase (not that it was his fault; he was a sweet kid), she became more reckless and strayed further from their set goal. Of course, it is good to help people, but Rhea looked toward the bigger picture, which is Aang becoming a fully realized Avatar and ending the war, then assisting the little problems. 

But all those thoughts were gone now. Her mind only showed her peaceful images of her once home, the Southern Air temple. The temple was alive again. Her children surrounding her as she entertained them with tricks. Aang and Gyatso were throwing cakes at the elders. 

It was her favorite memory, and it brought her peace. 

"Mom?!" 

"Rhe!"

"MOM!"

"Rhea, where are you?!"

Well, peace never lasts long.

Sighing heavily, she shifted onto Appas head and steered him towards their voices. Momo slept calmly in her lap as she petted him gently. 

"RHE- Oh, finally. AANG, I FOUND HER! Where've you been? You were worrying us to death, woman!"

Before she could answer Sokka, she was viciously tackled off Appas head and held onto tightly by the little hog monkey she called her son. Momo screeched in surprise and flew back onto Appa where it was safe from flying children. Then another weight was added to the hug, this time of a lanky teen- almost dad- who was worried sick. 

"I know I'm an air bender, but I still need air people. Scooch."

She was able to sit up, but Aang stayed in her lap with one arm from each teen wrapped around him. His legs ended up in Sokkas lap as he also remained attached to Rhea. 

"Are you ok mom?" Aang asked in a small voice, still upset from earlier.

Rhea kissed his head, "Yeah, I'm fine sweetie. Just needed some time."

"Well next time, please tell us if your gonna run off so we don't get heart attacks." Sokka huffed out as he tried to glare at her. 

"I'll try, but I'm hoping their won't be a next time."

Sokka buried his head in her shoulder. "I'm so sorry about Katara. She was way out of line." He lifted his head and stared blankly past the airbenders. "I don't know what's gotten into her lately."

"I don't even want to try and understand, I just want to get to the north pole so we can move on." She grabbed Sokkas hand and hugged Aang tighter. "The only other chance I'm willing to give Katara, for your sake," she said to Sokka, "is to come with us and try and get past this. Otherwise I won't give a second thought about leaving her here and she can find the north pole on her own once she realizes her fault."