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Airbenders are pretty thoroughly repopulated now, but they're still minorities anywhere but the handful of enclaves that have retaken the open temples or integrated into the populations that have woven into them. Beila doesn't live in one of those enclaves. She lives in Republic City. Benders are a minority, airbenders more so. She's the only one in her class. It could still be a coincidence that she's supposed to do her history project on Avatar Aang, her some-number-of-greats grandfather, and not casual stereotyping. Whatever. Her partner's not a bender at all unless he's very quiet about it, he's just a random cute boy who sits to her left. Dao, that's his name.
"Hey," she says. "When's good for you to meet up and work on this thing?"
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roc_on
thinklikethis
"You spent two hours knocking on my door after I closed it in your face, I think that's actually a really good reason to be unfriendly," Dao points out.
roc_on
"You could've gotten rid of me in five minutes," the reporter says. "What're you hiding? Did Avatar Beila ask you to keep the relationship a secret? Is she ashamed of you?"
thinklikethis
Dao looks up from his carving.
"Okay!" he says. "I have a serious question for you! What is actually wrong with you as a person?"
roc_on
"Just doing my job, Dao," says the reporter. "How long have you known the Avatar? Were you and she together before she was named, or only since?"
thinklikethis
"I am just gonna stay here and carve this lizard crow," says Dao, returning his attention to his block of wood, "and if you want to stand there and ask me stupid questions while I do it, then I guess I can't stop you."
roc_on
The reporter stands there and asks him stupid questions while he does it.
"Why hasn't Avatar Beila mentioned you in any of her interviews?"
"Why hasn't Avatar Beila mentioned you in any of her interviews?"
roc_on
"I'm just an extension of the curiosity of Republic City," says the reporter. "Come on, talk to me, I'll get out of your hair."
roc_on
"I can be patient. Sources say you gave her a birthday gift. When you picked it out, did you already suspect that she'd also be celebrating being named Avatar?"
thinklikethis
"Did you know the otterpenguin can hold its breath for up to six hours?" says Dao, going back to his carving.
roc_on
"Do you feel that otterpenguins are in some way emblematic of your relationship with Beila?" attempts the reporter gamely.
thinklikethis
"The panda carp almost died out four times in the last sixty years," he says conversationally, "but last year somebody managed to get a population established in the wild again for the first time since 495."
roc_on
"Hi!" says Beila, wafting off Liqing with a gratuitous midair spin and making a three-point landing. "How're you?"
thinklikethis
"Uh, a reporter showed up at ugly o'clock in the morning and followed me around asking intrusive questions because some people at school told him we're dating," he says. "But I started answering all his questions with totally unrelated trivia and he gave up."
roc_on
"That's one way to deal with them. Spirits, I'm sorry, I have no idea who told him that," says Beila, shaking her head. "I haven't been bothered all that much at home but I think it's mostly because my dad is a cop."