Road Trip - 121 ASC (After Sozin's Comet)

He didn't want to go.

The South Pole was his home. He'd spent his whole life surrounded by snow, inconsistent daylight hours, and his older sister using him for her waterbending practice.

Actually now that he thought about it, hunting was awfully tiring, he was too small for the grownups to take him seriously as the warrior he knew himself to be, and Kya was just a big old meanie.

But for Bumi, it was home. And besides, where else could he go penguin sledding?

And now they wanted him to leave everything he'd ever known and move the family to some place in the Earth Kingdom.

Kya was trying to be the bossy know-it-all, saying things like, "It's for the balance of the world," or, "The old Fire Nation colonies need to know that the Avatar doesn't favor any one nation over another." It still didn't change the fact that he really, really didn't want to move.

It was during times like these that Bumi wished Tenzin was old enough to talk. Maybe then he'd be able to swing him onto his side and then they'd be able to outnumber Kya's vote.

ooo

Of course he should have realized this. His dad was The Avatar. There was no way they were just going to be able to move in to their new home. Not like normal people.

Of course, normal people didn't get to use a multi-ton sky bison to carry all their stuff, but that was beside the point.

But the worst part—the absolute most boring part imagineable—was the party. Not like a normal party, but a grownup party. Oh they called it something fancy, like a "ceremony" or something, but Bumi knew it for what it was. A place where the grownups all stood in place and talked with each other.

Even if they had the party at the Firelord's Palace, it was still boring. For one thing, there were no other kids around. Tenzin was being carried around by his mom, and Kya was off on the steps with some other girl. Okay, so there was one other kid at this gathering that wasn't family. But it was a girl.

Bumi decided to wander off to see what else he could do. After filling up a bowl of that spicy-crunchy-flaky stuff first, though.

ooo

"What are you doing?"

Bumi peeked over his shoulder to see who had interrupted him and frowned. It was just that girl who'd been hanging out with his sister earlier. "Earthbending," he said. He picked up one of the many rocks he'd piled up along the side of the pond and flung it across the water. A grin snaked his way across face. ...Three... four... five skips! I am awesome!

The girl frowned. "That's not earthbending, you're just throwing rocks." She marched up to him with a glare. "You haven't hurt any turtle-ducks have you? I'm telling Father if you did!"

Bumi matched her glare. She looked to be older than him by a bit, if her height was anything to go by; but she didn't look quite as old as Kya did. "First, the turtle-ducks are on that side of the pond." And they'd stolen all of his bread too. The jerks. "Secondly," he said, hefting a new stone, "Rocks sink in water. I am bending them so they don't."

Another sweep of his arm and the stone skipped across the pond all the way to the opposite bank. "Therefore, I am earthbending," he concluded smugly.

She didn't look impressed, stooping down to pick up her own missile. "If skipping rocks makes you an earthbender then so am I." Twirling in place, she flung out her hand and sent the stone flying.

It sailed through the air in a shallow arc and landed in the middle of the pond with a dismal splash.

"Wahoo!" Bumi pumped a fist. "I win!"

"Win what?" She didn't turn around, still staring at the growing ripples her stone made.

"At... being an earthbender!"

"Well, I'm a firebender anyways so it's not like it's a real competition," she grumbled.

Bumi scowled. "...You're a firebender?"

She glanced at him over her shoulder. "What about it?" she said, narrowing her eyes.

"That's no fair!" Bumi exclaimed. "This game is for nonbenders only!"

She arched an eyebrow. "I thought you said you were an earthbender."

"I—" he paused, then jabbed his thumb into his chest. "—I am! And a waterbender too!" With that he crouched down and slapped his hand across the water, splashing himself and launching a small arc of water across the surface. He stood up with a grin, absently wiping his eyes clear. "How about tha—uh... "

She stood there glaring at him, arms fisted at her sides as she trembled in rage. Her face and hair dripped pondwater and the upper part of her crimson robes were soaked through. If he hadn't believed she was a firebender before, the literal steam rising from her ears would have clued him in.

He at least had the grace to look sheepish. "Oops?"

Faster than he could see, her hand whipped to the side as she slapped him.

ooo

He got scolded by Mom as they rode Appa from the Fire Nations Royal Palace towards Ba Sing Se, towards yet another ceremony thing.

"I can't believe you did that, Bumi!" Katara exclaimed. "I've half a mind to drop you off at Republic City early and leave you to the air acolytes for the rest of the trip!"

"As long as it means no more grownup parties," he grumbled softly under his breath.

Not softly enough it seemed, as he found his ear in a vice-like grip. "If we were still home, young man, I would ground you!"

"Smooth, Bumi," Kya grinned as he wailed in pain. "Real smooth. Do you have any idea who she even was?"

"Does it matter?" he complained, trying to free himself.

"That was Firelord Zuko's daughter. The crown-princess of the entire Fire Nation." His older sister chuckled. "I'd start working on an apology for the next time you meet her."

Bumi made a noncomittal noise and rubbed his ear as his mom finally released him. He scooted over to the back of the saddle and watched the fading lights of the palace recede into the darkness. Well, excu~use me, Princess.

It occurred to him, then, that he'd never even gotten her name.

...

(a/n) — i had something like this sorta stuck in my head. i dont thiiiink i have enough plot points to make a full on story so i'm just going to treat this as a series of writing-prompt.

i'm using the ones from the maikka fortnight 2012 prompts because, well... i like maikka. i like the idea of bumi and zuko's daughter. i think i'll wait to see what her actual name is before i 'name' the ship, although i personally find the 'honora' idea to be hilarious. let's see how far i can get and how normal i can get the narrative to sound without ever mentioning her name.

edit: i've added some date entries based on the avatar wiki's timeline of events. this is so i really can go back and forth across the timeline because sometimes i'm just no good at buildup so i'll take whatever shortcuts i can get