The Girl After

Chapter 21

Saki's POV

I brushed my hand against Leinani's cheek as she laid motionlessly. I could sense something stirring within her, though I couldn't tell what it was. "Have trouble have you gotten yourself into this time?" I asked her quietly.

"It's almost funny," a voice said behind me. "First you were in a coma, now she is. It must be a generational thing." I turned around to see an old friend standing over me.

"Mika!" My face transformed with a smile. I stood and embraced her, and she returned the hug.

"It's great to see you, old friend," she chuckled. We parted and looked at one another. Spirits, how we'd grown. Her eyes had maintained their green glisten over the years, the last sign of youth. They looked almost out of place on her wrinkled face. Her smile was an empathetic one. "I'm so sorry about your granddaughter, but she's going to be alright."

"I'm sure of it," I told her with a nod. "But I'm still worried... Do you know who did this?"

Mika hesitated to reply. Her smile fell. She knew. I knew that she knew. Why wasn't she telling me? She looked to Leinani with a look of concentration. "She's afraid," Mika said.

"What?"

"Leinani - she's afraid of something, Saki," Mika clarified. She stepped towards the bed and took an earthbending stance. She stood in silence as she exhaled deeply. I remembered Toph using the same techniques to search for something. What on earth could she be searching for? "She's terrified," Mika finally said. "Her heart beat is increasing. We need to calm her down."

I took this as my cue to bend water from the flowers that had been brought into the room by those young people from earlier. I encased my hands in the water, pressing one hand against Leinani's chest and one hand to her forehead. As I kept her calm, I said, "You never answered my question, Mika, and I know you know the answer. Who did this to my granddaughter?"

Mika sucked in a sharp breath. Reluctantly, she finally answered. "She and Dakota have been having problems getting along," she said, "and Dakota had never been good at handling her emotions. They got into a fight and-"

"Your granddaughter did this to her?" I asked, forcing myself to remain calm. Any aggression could transfer from me to Leinani. I wasn't going to take any risks.

"Don't pretend that Leinani is so innocent, Saki!" Mika said defensively. "She's been provoking Dakota since the day they met."

I sighed and shook my head. "I'm not surprised." I pulled my hands away from Leinani and looked at Mika. She was still beautiful, that was for sure, but I could see the sorrow she retained onto after Sokka's death. She'd lost her child, her husband, and now her granddaughter had run away to who-knows-where. I didn't even want to imagine such a level of pain.

"We're getting too old for this fighting," Mika chuckled.

"Speak for yourself," I said with a smirk. "I'm still keeping Zuko's mind straight after all these years, and I'll keep going until the world stops spinning."

She laughed.

Our reunion came to an end when Tenzin entered the room. He gave respectful bows to us both, and Mika left to tend to something with the airbender children "How is she?" He asked.

"I can't say for sure," I replied honestly. I sighed as I thought aloud, "I wish I knew what was going on in her mind right now..."

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Leinani's mind

I felt trapped. Everyone was staring at me and I knew it; I could feel their eyes fixated on me like an animal in the zoo. I couldn't move to hide myself from their view or shout at them to stop watching me.

I could hear Gran Gran's voice above me. She sounded so sad. I wanted to comfort her, to tell her that I was okay. If only I could just....

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Saki's POV

I jumped at the sound of the water bowl crashing to the floor. I knelt down to pick up the shattered ceramic pieces and the water began to move, but it wasn't of my doing. I looked up at Leinani. Quietly, I mumbled, "It's happening again."

"What?" Tenzin asked.

I watched the water moving. It slithered like a serpent on the hunt. "When Leinani was young - very young - a rebel group attacked the palace," I explained. "One of them was a bloodbender, and he attacked her. Not long after that, she started exhibiting some odd behavior. Certain elements would move whenever she passed, but she wouldn't be bending. She could simply sit and play with her toys, and things would just... move."

I paused, and so did the water.

"It stopped a couple months later, and we haven't come to a conclusion yet," I continued. "I suppose it was triggered again when she was bloodbent by Dakota."

"She was bloodbent before that, too," Tenzin told me. "Not long ago, we were still fighting Amon. Tarrlok bloodbent all of us when we discovered that he was responsible for Korra's disappearance."

My lips were locked as I thought this over. If the incidents were so close together, who's to say that the effects would be temporary this time? I stood up and handed Tenzin the bowl fragments. I looked to Leinani again and watched as the water levitated from the floor and surrounded her like a halo.

Tenzin watched in astonishment. "I-I don't understand," he gawked.

"Did your parents ever tell you of the assassin that Zuko had hired to kill them?" I asked, but it was rhetorical. "Sokka named him Combustion Man. He had a rare ability to firebend with his mind and, quite frankly, make things combust."

"Are you saying that Leinani can do the same with water?"

I nodded. "Leinani is an anomaly, Tenzin. This is why I've been so protective." I looked to her again and noticed that the water halo was gone, and she was stirring a bit.

"My only concern," I said, "is that water and people won't the only thing she can manipulate."