Family Trade

Bailey woke that day like she always had, sliding the covers off of her and rolling onto the floor in a kneeling position. Just in front of her sat a small white candle and picture of Roth on a small table. She bowed to the photo and prayed for a moment before looking back at it. "Dreamed of you again, miss you, my dear." She told the picture before getting up and getting ready for the day. The twins didn't know it yet, but they were waking up early today. Because today was going to be the first day of their real training.

Bailey pulled out two firebender's outfits and walked to the twin's rooms.  The twins were still fast asleep, quiet and away in dreamland, when Bailey walked in and set the outfits out for them. She turned and woke up Shuramine first, shaking his arm to wake him like she always did. "Darling, wake up. I have a surprise for you." She told him before turning to Amaya and waking her as well. She walked back to their door and looked back at them. Shuramine, the splitting image of her husband, and Amaya, a little version of herself, were going to learn how to control their firebending today.

Amaya didn't want to wake up. She liked to get as much sleep as she could get. Waking up at her normal time was bad enough, but waking up early? THAT was hard to do. Unfortunately, Amaya was a light sleeper, and as soon as Bailey touched her, she was instantly awake. She groaned and rolled over, sticking her head under her pillow. Sleepily, she said, "Too early. Need sleep." She knew, however, that once she was up she wouldn't get back to sleep, so she eventually sat up.

She looked around. It was still fairly dark outside, about dawn. She noticed that Shuramine had been woken up as well. Then her eyes fell on the Fire Bender uniforms. Suddenly, she didn't feel so tired. Her eyes widened with excitement. She had practiced Fire Bending on her own, but still wasn't very good since she didn't have a real teacher. She wasn't sure if her mother even knew about the training. But she knew now that something else was going on. "Mom, What's going on? What are we doing?" she asked Bailey.

Shuramine was awoken to the feeling of hiss mother pulling his arm and telling him to wake up. He got up quickly, almost hopping up, then looked to his sister. "Oi, Amaya! You promised you would go cave exploring with me today!" he yelled at his sister, before looking at what his mother was holding up, and then back to his sister. "Be polite, sis. Like this." he said before clearing his throat. "Mrs. Mom, what art thou planning for today?"

Bailey sighed and looked at her children. "Listen, just get up and get dressed in these. Meet me outside when you are ready." She told them before heading outside to the backyard. In the past week, she had been working to change it from the children's playground to a miniature archery range. She quickly pulled out new targets and drew out lines across the yard about 25 feet away from the target. The targets were specially made out of hard metal from a kind neighbor into different forms. She kept the targets on the ground beside the stands and walked back inside.

Bailey went to her room and pulled on her older fire nation clothes, the burned shirt and shorts Roth had first met her in and her boots. The shirt was still fryed and burned from the attack on the Boss's mansion, but her shorts were in better condition. She walked back outside to wait for her children, hoping they wouldn't take too long. They are nine now, they can take care of getting changed themselves. She thought as she leaned against one of the target stands. I should probably move them into their own rooms soon. Bailey closed her eyes and looked up towards the sky, letting the sun warm her face. "Roth, I could use you here right now." She whispered as she heard the door open.

Amaya grabbed her clothes from Bailey. "Okay, mom, we will see you out there" she said, then walked into one of the corners of the room, where there was a little curtained off area. Here was where she changed for privacy, although she was constantly on her guard in case Shuramine decided to look at her anyway. In reply to his earlier question, she said, "Cave exploring. I forgot. Well, it seems like we are doing something a little more important than exploring a cave. Maybe later?"

When she finished changing, she looked at herself in the mirror. The outfit was comfortable, easy to move in. She tried a little bit of moving her arms and legs around, which was really easy to do instead of her clothes restraining her like her usual clothes did. She smiled, satisfied. She didn't really care how it looked, just how it felt. She stepped out of her corner, trusting that Shuramine had gotten changed faster than she had. She walked to the door and said, "Race ya!" and charged out of the room and outside.

Shuramine got finished dressing before his sister and ran at lightning speed when she told him that they should race. How come HE did'nt get a curtain? I should make a curtain for myself. He thought. He got to the backyard quickly, and faced his mother, waiting for his sister. When she came, he took a moment to look at all the targets. He didn't even notice them at first, so he ran back inside and got his practice sword. "Ok, mom. What are we gonna start with?" he thought to himself, dropping the sword on the ground next to him.

Bailey kept her gaze on the sky for a moment before looking at her children. With a smile, she beaconed them forward and took his practice sword. "I've noticed a few things that have happened around here. Somethings that you both tried to keep from me, maybe?" She kneeled down and faced them both. "I know you both mean well with training, but without a teacher, it is difficult. I learned from my father, as you should have as well, however in this case, I will be teaching you." Bailey gave them both a hug real quick before standing straight up. "Children, if you don't control this element you have, you can do bad things to people without meaning to." She pointed to her arm as she spoke, letting them get the full meaning of her words.

Amaya looked at the burn on Bailey's arm. She remembered stories that she had been told about Bailey's battles, and just thinking about the pain that Bailey went through made her wince. It also seemed that Bailey was aware of Amaya's training. So she does know. But wait, does this mean that she is going to teach us now? she thought. Amaya looked around at the targets set up around the field. A smile started to show on her face. FINALLY! I'm gonna become a real fire bender! she thought as she restrained herself from jumping with joy.

As she thought about the upcoming training, a boy who lived nearby walked up to her. "Well well, if it isn't little Amaya Kenta." He said, snickering. Then he grabbed the sleeve of her shirt. "What's this? A new uniform?" He looked around the field. "Heh, so you think you can be a firebender? How do you suppose you are going to pull that off little girl!" He laughed.

Shuramine watched as the guys wen't and pulled his sister by her shirt. He got into fighting position, made the deepest voice he could (witch was actually pretty light) and said "Stop right there, or else I will stop you!" he yelled. "Oooh, is 'super-awesome guy' gonna get us again? Where's your cape?" they said. "I-er, I left it inside." he said, as he looked to the ground, nervously. "Ahh! I'm so scared!" he said, laughing as he held Amaya up higher.

The boys had invaded her backyard, and now were interrupting her lesson. This didn't suit well with Bailey. The Kenta's had rules against people walking into their homes. Anger flowed through her, but she kept it back against the boys. They were young, and didn't know any better. Swallowing her anger, Bailey walked between the boys and her children. "If you children have a problem with a member of the Kenta family, you go through me. You hear?" She told them. Pointing at the targets on the ground, Bailey laughed just slightly. "How about this. If you can beat me at hitting one of those targets, you wont get into trouble for invading my home and messing with my kids. However, if you cant, I will be informing all of your parents about this matter."

Bailey didn't wait to hear their answer, she walked over to the targets on the ground, picked one up and placed it soundly on the stand. Taking up her bow, she grabbed an arrow off the stand and walked back to the boys. "What do you boys say. I'm sure you have a better chance at hitting a target than poor defenseless old me?"