*Incoherent screaming*

Niva and Lavi sat with Tenzin and his family as they ate dinner, Lavi sporting a bruised shoulder from a tumble taken on their outing. The two had gone mountain surfing, an extremely dangerous leisure activity, entirely at Niva’s behest and against Pena's objections.

Niva was happy as a clam. 

As they ate, Lavi noticed Pema scowling at her. “...Something wrong?”

“You mean besides injuring yourself unnecessarily today? No, nothing,” Pema said unconvincingly before sipping at her tea. 

“Okay,” Lavi said uneasily, looking back down at her noodles. 

“Thanks for coming today,” Niva said, leaning over to kiss her cheek. “You’re the sweetest, you know that?”

Lavi smiled. “Anything for you, Pebble.”

“You really shouldn’t be saying things like that,” Pema said. “It sends the wrong message.” 

“Pema,” Tenzin said beneath her breath.

Lavi looked up, confused. “What message does it send?”

That was when Ikki piped up. “Mom thinks you and Niva are sleeping together!”

The entire table went silent as the grave, the only sound in the room from a veggie dumpling that slid from Jinora’s chopsticks with a splat. 

“Oh, by the Spirits,” Tenzin groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose.

Lavi and Niva both rolled their eyes. “Got it,” Lavi said acidly, turning her attention back to her food. Her fork struck the plate with an especially loud clack.

“Niva, Lavi,” Tenzin said. “No one here actually thinks that, I assure you. Pema was just-”

“Wait a minute!” Meelo blanched, looking at Niva. “Is that why you never went out with me!?”

“I didn’t go out with you because I didn’t want to,” Niva said with a huff. “Lavi had nothing to do with it.”

“Liar! I’m irresistible to single women!” Meelo exclaimed. 

“Meelo, enough!” Tenzin chided. “Niva and Lavi are not like that, so do not encourage this line of thinking.” 

“...I mean, perhaps we shouldn’t be too judgmental, father,” Jinora hummed, looking at the two sisters. “A forbidden love like this is still lo-” 

“What the hell have you been reading?!” Lavi spat, slamming her fist on the table.

Everyone jolted, even Niva. She was unaccustomed to seeing Lavi this angry. Jinora and Ikki had somehow managed to get under her skin. And nothing ever got under Levi's skin before.

“Me and Niva aren’t romantically involved,” Lavi said, glaring at Meelo. “She didn’t want to go out with you because you’re repugnant,” she turned her eyes to Jinora. “If you ever say that again I’m going to dangle you by your ankles from the temple peak.”

Both siblings reeled back, visibly stunned by Lavi’s words. 

Pema groaned with exasperation. “If you’re done accosting my children-” she hissed, “-all I’m saying is that you and Niva could stand to be less… codependent.” 

“We’re not codependent,” Niva scoffed. “We love each other.”

“You can’t stand to be apart from each other for a moment,” Pema countered. “You sleep in the same bed as adults. You let Niva pressure you into doing whatever she wants. You have no aspirations or goals outside of her. And she seems more interested in keeping you nearby than growing as the Avatar.” 

Lavi scowled. “Pema, you are completely out of line.”

“Lavi, you were fourteen when you brought Niva here. You shouldn’t have dedicated the last of your childhood to her. You should have left her here,” Pema said.

“Leave her with you? And the White Lotus?” Lavi tilted her head.

“Yes,” Pema said. “She would have been safe here and you would have been free to do whatever you wanted.” 

“...And the last Avatar who died when she was ten?” Lavi pressed. “Was she safe under your watch?”

The table went deathly quiet and Pema looked like she’d been slapped in the face. Niva once again looked at her sister with a mixture of surprise and concern.

“Lavi, that was uncalled for,” she said.

Lavi stood up. “No, it was called for! Avatar Korra died under your watch! When I brought Niva to you, we were abducted within hours and I had to talk my way out of an Earth Empire cell! I was the one keeping Niva safe, not you. Your friend, Beifong, sliced me in the back trying to rescue us and if I hadn’t been protecting her, she’d have killed Niva! And you have the gall to sit there and accuse me of abusing her like that?! How dare you!”

Jinora, Ikki and Meelo all recoiled from Lavi, sliding their chairs away a few inches. Niva looked up at her with wide eyes. 

For Niva, confusion melted away into realization. She's taken Pema’s accusations as being salacious in nature. A failure to understand the bond she and Lavi shared and confusing it with romance. The kind of thing Jinora had been reading far too much of lately.

But Lavi was so much older and had taken over as Niva’s guardian after their parents were killed that Pema's accusations read to her as abuse. Given how much Lavi's life had been devoted to taking care of Niva and keeping her safe and happy, that was the worst possible thing anyone could have ever said about her.

Pema wilted under Lavi’s words, mouth working uselessly trying to come up with something in response. “Lavi, I… that isn’t what I-” 

“No it is what you were saying,” Lavi said. “I put my life on the line to keep my sister safe. I brought her here, I defused that damn manhunt for her, nobody else did that. It was all me. And this is what you think of all of that? That’s what you think of me?!”

“Lavi, I’m sorry that you feel that way,” Tenzin said. “But Pema does have a point in that the two of you aren’t exactly healthy.”

Lavi rolled her eyes. “I’m not taking that from you, Tenzin! You just want to control and groom Niva into being the kind of Avatar you want her to be! But you’re not her guardian! I am!”

“Excuse me,” Niva said, standing up. “Is everyone just going to talk about me as if I’m not here?”

Tenzin turned a disapproving frown toward Niva, but Lavi’s expression softened and she inclined her head, humbled and ever so slightly ashamed. “I’m sorry,” she said softly. 

“It’s okay,” Niva said, laying a hand on Lavi’s arm before turning to her teacher. “We’re war orphans, Tenzin. Lavi’s the only family I have left. Maybe we are a little too clingy, and maybe it is a little unhealthy, but so what? Nobody here’s got a perfect family. Your kids drive each other up the wall, you and your siblings are estranged from each other.”

“Niva, that’s different,” Pema said. “That’s not-”

“No it isn’t,” Niva said firmly. “Yeah, Lavi’s overprotective and a little paranoid. But she’s the only person who cares about me. Not the Avatar, just me.”

“Niva, that’s not the point. You-”

“Pema, I don’t like the way you’re talking about my sister.”

Lavi glanced at her and gave her a small smile, and Niva could see her eyes glistening. It made her heart ache to know that this was hurting her so much. A glance to Tenzin and Pema saw exactly what she was hoping for. Their expressions were more intense as the reality of Niva’s words settled onto them: Niva’s respect, and therefore her trust and willingness to be influenced, would be lost if they continued to treat Lavi like a problem.

Pema’s gaze cast downward to her plate, words failing her as she fidgeted with the sleeves of her robes. 

Tenzin sighed. “You’ve made your stance known, girls. And Lavi, I apologize for what was insinuated at this table. It was uncalled for.” 

“...Thank you,” Lavi said, patting Niva’s hand.

“Are you going to be okay?” Niva asked, paying careful attention to Lavi’s glistening eyes. Lavi closed them and took a deep breath, and Niva watched as a tear slid down her cheek. The sight broke Niva’s heart.

She needed to get Lavi away from this table.

Niva made a big show of yawning and popped another dumpling into her mouth. “Mmm, I think I’m ready to hit the sack. How about you?” 

“Sure,” Lavi said, dropping her chopsticks into the bowl and standing up. “Come on.”

Niva rose alongside Lavi, falling in step with her sister as they made their way to their room. “Night everyone!” she called out. “Never bother us with this again!”

As they left, Lavi took Niva’s hand and squeezed it. “Thanks, Pebble.”

Niva smiled and squeezed Lavi’s hand in kind. She didn’t say anything until they were safely in their bedroom. Lavi let go of her and sat down in her armchair. It had been salvaged from a crashed airship a decade ago. When she was little, Niva would sit in Lavi’s lap while she read to her in the evenings. 

It had been her favourite part of the day.

“I’m going to get a shower,” Niva said, patting Lavi’s shoulder.

As she pulled away, Lavi reached out and grabbed her hand. “Niva?”

Niva glanced back down. Lavi’s eyes were glistening, and there was a shining streak of tears running down her cheeks.

“...You know I’d never hurt you, right?”

Niva’s heart shattered into pieces. She sat down on Lavi’s lap and draped an arm around her shoulders. “Of course I know that,” she said. “Pema really got to you, didn’t she?”

Lavi settled an arm around Niva’s waist. “Nobody’s ever said anything like that to me before,” she said, pulling Niva closer. “I just… you’re more important to me than anything. When we found out you were the Avatar, I was so afraid of what might happen to you. To think that someone would-”

Niva pressed a finger to Lavi’s lips. “Do you want to know what I remember?”

Lavi looked up at her and made a confused noise.

“I remember ten years ago, when the Earth Empire captured us from Republic City,” Niva said. “I remember that Empress Kuvira thought you were the Avatar instead of me. She had you chained up so that you couldn’t move and was grilling you extremely harshly. And do you remember what you said?”

Lavi shook her head.

“You said ‘Can you please bring Niva here? She’s a very delicate girl, she gets very upset when I’m not around,’” Niva explained. “Even when you were in the worst position you could possibly be in, my safety and wellbeing was still the most important thing to you. You didn’t even ask Kuvira to let you go, you just asked to be assured that I was safe. I’m going to remember that for a long time.” 

Lavi sniffled and reached up to wipe the fresh tears that were brimming in the corners of her eyes. “I was so scared that morning. I came to, and you were nowhere to be seen.”

“That’s what I’m talking about. You were more scared that I was missing than you were of the fact that a despotic metalbender had you locked up and unable to defend yourself,” Niva said. “So if you’re afraid that Pema might convince me otherwise, you can relax. I know you better than anyone.”

Niva leaned in and pressed a soft kiss to Lavi’s cheek. In response, Lavi wrapped both arms around her and squeezed her tightly. 

“I love you so much,” she murmured.

“I love you too,” Niva said, wrapping her arms around Lavi’s shoulder and hugging her in kind. 

Lavi knew objectively that she should probably apologize to Pema for throwing Avatar Korra’s death in her face like that, but she was too angry to care. She would probably be angry with Pema for a very long time. Ever since Niva was born, she had been the center of Lavi’s world. After their parents were killed in the raids, Niva became the only thing that mattered. That anyone could think she would hurt Niva made her blood boil.

But Niva would always be in her corner to set people straight. And that would be enough.