silver soul | avatar, the last air bender

chapter two

The next morning, Naia woke up as the sun's rays peaked through her window. Her feelings of woe somewhat dissipated. After all, it was her birthday. Naia did what she did on every birthday, and that was sneak out of the palace and go for a swim.

The North Pole was unsurprisingly cold, even during the summer, but Naia didn't care. There were very few times during the year where she could swim for even a couple minutes, so she took advantage of it when the weather was a little warmer than usual.

The water gently lapped against the icy shore. Naia removed her parka and sprinted towards the water, diving in straight under. The cold air nipped at the exposed parts of her skin but she didn't mind it. In fact, she greatly enjoyed it. She resurfaced and floated on her back, feeling the current sway her.

Naia always felt a strong connection to the ocean. She would spend as much time as she could watching the waves crash before they reached the shore. It gave her energy whenever she could swim, feeling the push and pull of the tide. It somehow grounded her. It made her sad that she couldn't swim in the ocean whenever she wanted since it was so cold all of the time. The ocean was beautiful, strong, and unrestrained, which is what she desired to be.

"I knew I could find you here."

Naia looked towards the shore where Yue stood, watching over her. She swam over to where she could stand and ran her hands through her soaking wet hair.

Naia vigorously waved her hand at her sister. "You should come in! It's so nice."

Yue looked at her twin as if she was crazy. She stood with a smile and her arms crossed over her chest. "Naia, get out of there before you freeze to death."

Naia shook her head and trudged out of the water. Her twin sister was right, she started to feel how her arms and legs were slowly turning numb. "I know, I know."

Her twin sister stood and draped a warm blanket around Naia's shoulders. Yue really knew her too well, as Naia forgot to bring a blanket herself. Naia gave her sister a short hug in order to not get her clothes wet. "Happy Birthday, Naia," Yue said.

The brunette smiled. "Happy Birthday, Yue."

☽

"Naia, I had this beautiful dress made custom for you for your birthday dinner celebration tonight."

Naia stood with another blanket wrapped around her shoulders (this time from a warm bath), staring down at the dress that lay atop her made bed. Her mother stood next to her with a big grin on her face. The dress was beautiful. It was a light purple color, with fine gold etching. It had long bell sleeves, with a key hole near the neckline. Next to it was a dark purple coat, with brown fur lining the edges. It was a little too fancy for Naia's taste, but she appreciated her mother's time and thought into it. Naia was always dressed well, with long handmade dresses in shades of blue and purple. Naia appreciated them from time to time, but they often restrained her. She couldn't move as freely in a long floor length dress.

"I love it, thank you," She said, giving her Mom a hug.

Naia loved both of her parents dearly, but her mother was much more gentle with her. She blamed their parenting style. Her father was the man of their family, and usually made the decisions. He also was responsible for punishment, where Naia usually resisted him. Her mother was much more gentle with her and spent most of her time raising her two daughters and busying herself with being the homemaker.

Later that day, Yue insisted on going on a boat ride through the city canals. Yue loved to ride on the canoe, and she always asked her twin to come with her. It was rare that Naia told her no. They sat side by side. She's seen the city hundreds of times, but she never got bored of its beauty. However, as they rounded the corner, Naia noticed something out of the ordinary.