Eclipse (Avatar the Last Airbender)

Chapter 8: Flow

Miyuki woke to the smell of food that was indescribably off before making her way downstairs to confirm what she thought it was. As expected, she found her brother sitting by the fire with some papers in hand. "Good morning, Miyu. I made some breakfast if you'd like."

She took a seat across from him and glanced at the seaweed stew that would apparently be sweet, if the sugar sitting by her brother was any indication. Typical Izuki. "I don't have much of an appetite, but thanks Izuki. What are you reading? Work?"

He nodded. "More or less. It's the meeting minutes from the council's debate after your hearing. Master Pakku was wrong to demand a hearing with the Council like that, especially in that manner. You can rest assured that they will be hearing about it from me."

"I appreciate it, thank you."

He set the papers down then, his expression serious as his posture shifted ever so slightly to match the formal mood. "Miyuki, for the sake of it, I need to ask- what you told the Council last night, is it true? The whole truth?"

She hesitated. She didn't like lying to her brother. She could hardly get away with it, and he would never say that he knew that she was lying. Instead, he would just sit there, disappointed in himself for letting her become the sort of person who could lie point blank.

She adjusted her own posture to match his before giving him her reply. "Yes and no."

He raised an eyebrow at her inquisitively, and she continued, "Everything I said last night is true. There are a few personal details that I omitted, admittedly, but I can assure you that those details have nothing to do with the Tribe, the Council, or their ability to prepare for this situation."

Her brother folded his arms and hummed, his gaze drifting to the fire as he thought for a long moment. "Alright. I understand. There's no need for you to disclose personal details when it has nothing to do with keeping the Tribe safe, so I won't ask you anything more in this capacity." He picked up a bowl and poured himself a portion of the stew, posture now relaxed once again.

The papers lay on the floor, scattered and abandoned. It hardly looked as though she had tidied the room up just the day before. She loved her brother, truly, but the only things that were ever neat about him were his appearance and his fighting.

She wasn't sure how he drank the (sweet) seaweed stew without a change in his expression, but he did it. "The Council is spending far too much time bickering amongst themselves and deliberating what they should do with your information."

"Predictable." Miyuki sighed despite herself. "They don't trust me nearly as much as you do, Izuki. As a matter of fact, they hardly trust me at all."

"That too, is to be expected. Not necessarily justified, mind you, but expected." He finished his soup and stood, a hand reaching down to ruffle her hair as he placed the bowl aside to clean later. "Well, it's time for me to go to work, but I'll be home for dinner. Have a nice day, Miyu."

He'd hardly thought anything of patting her head, but it gave her a pause. It was something she hadn't realized that she missed. She smiled at him and waved. "Thanks, you too, Izuki."

·:*¨༺ ★ ༻¨*:·.

Miyuki hummed at the sight of the lone girl in the waterbending class. "And the plot thickens." She could feel the smirk tugging at the corners of her lips despite the vague sense of resentment building up in her. She had fought for years to learn bending from the master, but he never budged. What about this girl exactly made him change his policy?

"Miyuki, I can practically feel you sneering from back there. Would you care to join us in sparring?" the elderly master called out.

She leapt down from the ledge and used a wave to slow her ascent and bring her to a graceful landing. "Oh? I would be more than happy to, if you'd allow it." Miyuki watched as Pakku asked his class if there were any takers. Ideally, she would go straight into sparring with the elderly waterbending master and get the jump on him, but she wouldn't particularly mind a warm-up.