𝙊𝙗𝙨𝙞𝙙𝙞𝙖𝙣 ᪥ 𝙄𝙧𝙤𝙝 𝙄𝙄 ˡᵉᵍᵉⁿᵈ ᵒᶠ ᵏᵒʳʳᵃ

𝙵 𝐨 𝚞 𝐫

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𝐁 𝚒 𝐭 𝚝 𝐞 𝚛
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𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝘿𝙊𝙊𝙍 𝙎𝙇𝙄𝘿𝙀𝙎 𝙊𝙋𝙀𝙉 at an agonizingly slow pace. Halah's heart pounds against her ribcage, pulsing in her ears. Her head spins dizzyingly. Between the blackening stars in her vision, a blur of red and gold comes hurtling at her followed by a gust of wind, knocking her flat to the floor. Three little bodies pile on top of her all happily cheering her name while squeezing the life out of her. Just when Halah thinks she can't be any happier after reuniting with Tenzin, seeing how much his children grew since she last saw them brings tears to her eyes. After she dries every last one does she sit up and finally release the kids. Jinora bounces up and down on her heels while Halah hold her face in her hands and lovingly squeezes her cheeks together, just like she would before.

          Jinora is her favorite, but no one has to know that.

          "Halah, Halah!" Meelo air bends himself up on her shoulders. He seems to be trying to hug her head, but his arms over her eyes pull her to the floor again. "You wouldn't believe just how big I've gotten, I'm a man now!"

The little air bender scampers off of Halah, puffs out his chest and bottom lip and flexes his tiny muscles. Just for added measure, Meelo manipulates the air around him to circulate through his clothing to give it a flowing effect. Halah expects nothing less from the kid, he always had the cutest little crush on her and does anything he thinks would impress her.

"Wow, buddy, they're almost bigger than mine!" Halah reaches out and squeezes his bicep, right before she sticks two fingers in his armpit and wiggles them around. Meelo howls and soars away.

"No air bending in the house!" Tenzin scolds as he passes the room through the hall.

"Halah, look!" A hand-drawn picture is thrown into her sight. Ikki waves the piece of paper in Halah's face so close that she can't even make out what's on the page. She plucks the drawing from Ikki's fingers to examine it at a more comfortable distance. It appears to be of her and Ikki happily holding hands, and... Iroh is drawn next to them wearing a bejeweled crown that could've belonged to a king. Surrounding him is a crowd of stick figures cheering him on, various speech bubbles say things like 'You're our hero!', 'Thank you, Iroh!', 'Welcome home, Halah!'.

Halah draws her chin back with a snort. Behind her, she glances up at Iroh and flashes him the picture. "Check it out, you're a hero."

Iroh chuckles, the hint of a blush stains his cheeks. "That's very nice, Ikki. Maybe one day you can draw me a picture, too."

"I already did. Here!" Ikki replies excitedly and whips out another paper. Pictured is Iroh with a crown again, this time with Halah beside him. Surrounding them are...

Hearts?!

The two's features morph into mortified expressions once they register what they're looking at. Halah quickly turns away and rubbs under her eye after the lower lid had started to twitch. The only thing Iroh can do is breathe out a nervous laugh, his eyes glance between the picture and the little girl that made it. "T-Thank you, Ikki. I uh... I'll be sure to hang it up right when I get to my room."

Their shoulders jerk when Ikki launches herself up and snatches Iroh's hand. "Ooh, I'll help you!" She screeches, and within seconds, they're gone. Iroh flashes Halah a hesitant smile around the corner before his head disappears from the door frame.

Halah shakes her head, despite her lips tugging upward, and the brief moment of quiet is interrupted by her heavy sigh. She closes her eyes. Beside her, Jinora leans in close with her hands clasped under her chin in wonder. "Did your family already come? What are they like?"