~Celestial Bodies~

4.7

[4.7]

Unfortunate Dinner

When they landed on the Air Temple Island, Rae slowly got off the air bison, her hands still wrapped around Opal. She didn't hurry to get her feet back on solid ground, but rather concentrated on not freaking out at the complete darkness she found herself in, for the sake of her cousin.

Slowly, the two Beifong women approached Tenzin, Bumi and Korra. Bumi's face lit up when he saw the Guardian, but Tenzin didn't leave him time to greet her. "Now, I hate to get right down to business," he said, "but I want to hear what happened in Zaofu."

Rae's face fell slightly and Bumi pouted, whispering, "way to ruin the moment."

But to their surprise, it was Korra or Rae that explained what happened, but Opal herself. "Kuvira's whole army was there," she said sadly, "she captured mom, dad, and my brothers."

"I thought I was strong enough to stop her," said Korra, looking down, "I feel like such a failure."

"No one expected you to handle Kuvira on your own," said Tenzin, making Rae nod even though she felt his words were directed primarily to her. But she did try to help. If Korra wanted to prove herself, that was another story. "It's up to all of us to find a way to deal with her. We're just glad to have you back." Tenzin's gaze turned to Rae, who straightened her posture when she felt his eyes on her, "To have both of you back."

"Where's Bolin?" asked Bumi, making everyone look at him, "he's not still on Kuvira's side, is he?"

When Opal spoke, Rae could feel the sadness in her voice, and she placed a hand on her shoulder, "I can't believe he would stay with her after what she did to my family. But we don't know where he is..."

The group fell around the group, but it didn't last long. Opal left after a few minutes, Bumi having to keep Rae from going after her, telling the woman the airbender needed time. Soon everyone left, and Rae found herself of the docks of the island, waiting for the last ferry of the day as the moon shone in her face.

She dragged her fingers across the metal of her dress, a sad frown on her face as she remembered what happened to Zaofu. But she needed to concentrate on something else, so she decided to go see her mother even though it was a late hour. She heard Korra was trying to get Mako and Asami to lunch the next day, so until then, she had time.

A pair of footsteps approached her and her hands fell off the metal of her dress. Tenzin walked up to her slowly, watching the approaching ferry in the distance. His eyes fell on the metal of her clothes before he caught sight of the gold ruby ring.

"He's not here," he said with a cough, standing next to the woman.

Rae frowned at his words. "I know," she said, making Tenzin's eyes widen slightly at his mistake, "he told me he wouldn't make it to Wu's coronation. This means he wouldn't be here when I had to come back... even though I'm late."