The Girl After

Chapter 22

Gran Gran refused to let me out of her sight ever since I'd woken up. Though she had valid reasons, I suppose. As I walked through the halls of the temple, the candles would be blown out by some invisible force. Every time I went outside, the waves angrily crashed against the edges of the isle. Gran Gran wouldn't explain what was going on, but, based on her nervous behavior, it couldn't have been good.

It had been a month and a half since I'd woken up. Along with Gran Gran, everyone else seemed cautious around me. They seemed less worried about me than they were about what was happening with me.

One afternoon, I sat with Korra and Gran Gran in the training center. It was an awkward silence. Their eyes were focused on the candle that flickered on the ground between us. The longer we sat, the more uncomfortable I felt. Finally, I asked, "Is anyone to explain why you've all been acting so weird, or can I just leave? This is getting ridiculous."

The two of them looked at one another without a word. What on earth was going on? Gran Gran turned to me again and moved her hand from her side. She held a small skin pouch and flicked her wrist, forcing water in my direction like a dart. I flinched, crossing my arms over my face to guard myself. When I wasn't hit, I lowered my arms and found the water on the ground in front of me. It was frozen into an icicle.

"Gran Gran!" I shouted. "What is your problem? You just tried to skewer my head!"

"I didn't freeze that water," she said calmly. I looked to Korra, who put her hands up in surrender to deny any involvement.

"I didn't think you were serious," Korra said to my grandmother. They looked at me in wonder. I still didn't understand, and I began to wish that I hadn't woken up.

"Leinani," Gran Gran gestured towards the flickering candle, "move the flame."

I shook my head. "What are you talking about?" I asked. "Only the Avatar can bend more than one element — and I can't even bend! You've officially gone mad!" I stood up and turned on my heel, but I didn't make it very far.

"Sit down, Leinani!" Gran Gran's voice was stern and commanding. It was a tone that she had only used when convincing Fire Lord Zuko that he was wrong, and one time when I was younger and tried to punch an admiral in the throat for being a sexist hippo-cow. It was that tone that made me apologise that day, no matter how much I didn't mean it.

Reluctantly, I obeyed.

"You froze that water to defend yourself," she said. "Only a waterbender can do that."

"Even if that's the case," I said, groaning in annoyance, "it makes no sense for you to think that I can bend fire! Only the Avatar can—"

She ordered again, "Move the flame, Leinani!"

"I can't, Gran Gran!"

"Bend the fire, Leinani."

I was growing more frustrated. I held my head in my hands as I tried to think clearly. "I'm not a firebender!" I shook my head vigorously. "What do you want from me?!"

"Bend it!"

I pounded my fists screamed, "I can't!" Just as I yelled, the flame was no longer dancing on wick. It exploded in a fury, upward like dragon's breath. I yelped and flinched away. I fell back as the fire fell back to a miniscule flicker. My chest shook with every ragged breath as I looked to Korra and my grandmother in hopes for an answer.

"I knew it," was all Gran Gran said. She smiled at me, but I didn't return it.

"Whoa, hold on." Korra was the one shaking her head now, sharing my perplexity. "What just happened? Not only is she suddenly a bender, but she bends two elements? That's my thing!"

My grandmother smiled at me, standing to her feet. "Leinani has generations of Water Tribe and Fire Nation in her blood. Her grandfather was a firebender, as was her mother, and her father was a waterbender like me. Her great-grandmother was a firebender, and her great-grandfather was a waterbender. I had a feeling that this would happen at some point."

"This is absolutely insane," I said, standing up again. I needed to get away. I wanted to be alone. No, I needed to be alone. I sprinted away, despite the Avatar or my grandmother shouting my name for me to return.

I ran through the halls of the temple to get to my room.

I didn't want this. I didn't want to be a bender. After years of identity issues, I'd grown to accept the inability and make up for it in combat. It was all a waste! I needed someone to talk to that could understand, but there was nobody. The closest was Avatar Aang, and, well...

I closed the bedroom door behind me. I was anxious and overwhelmed, and it was only building up inside of me. I felt like I was going to explode. The buildup was overflowing. I let out a blood curdling scream.

The one thing I inherited from my mother and father, the one thing! I was an enigma. A freak. I could already see it: I would be in everyone's eyes, followed around and constantly question. In addition, I would be gifted with the misfortune of another expectation that I would never meet and another legacy that would die with me.

Angrily, I shoved a flowerpot from the table beside the door. The sound of the shattering ceramic pot was oddly satisfying.

The noise caught the attention of Jinora and Pema, who came running into the room with worried looks on their faces. (Like I said, Gran Gran wasn't the only one to become a mess of paranoia when I'd woken up.)

"Leinani, what's going on?" Pema asked. "What was that sound?"

Angrily, I spat, "The pot fell."

Jinora slid her hand into mine and looked up at me. She was always my favorite. "I'm not sure what you could be going through," she said, sounding wiser than I would probably ever be, "but I do know that things will get better. They always do."

"As much as I wanna believe you, little airbender," I said, "I'm not sure that's true."