lina

 “come in!" she was frantic and almost trashed the letter impulsively. turning around to see mako, she sighed in relief. pressing a hand to her chest, jinora punched his shoulder lightly.

"don't scare me like that!" she frowned, and the firebender raised his hands in surrender.

"hey, you're the one that called me here, remember? so, what's up? having trouble with book club?" he pointed out, and she avoided his eyes.

"no, and it's not anything too important." she muttered, never losing her grip on the chair. he softened, placing a hand of her shoulder.

"hey, whatever it is. if it's important to you, it's going to be important to me too." he reassured. jinora huffed, fiddling her fingers.

"i've been trying to write letters to kai...and i wanted you to look over them, please." she said slowly, as to try and process it herself. he raised an eyebrow.

"what, like an editor?"

"yeah, something of that sort." she replied, and he pressed his fingers to his chin, faking thought.

"what's in it for me?" he joked, and she laughed.

“you ask too many questions."

“well, i gotta know what i'm getting myself into first. so what's it gonna be, kid?"

"unlimited access to my library? just say the word and i'll grab the books for you."

"you got a deal! i've been wanting to read your book on team avatar's history for a while. now, where's the piece of literature that has yet to be discovered?" he asked, and she finally picked up the piece of paper. handing it over to him, she walked over to read it beside him. when done, she looked up at him.

"you know, this is really good. you should share your writing more often. with a little fixups we can make this your magnum opus." he smiled, tapping the paper.

"you're a dork mako. you do know that, right?" jinora asked, and mako shrugged. keeping his focus on the letter, he was interested at how amazing her words were thought out. mild jealousy seeped in at her skill, but he paid no mind.

"yeah, whatever makes you happy though."

kai

just outside the boy's dormitories, he admired the sight of republic city. not paying attention, he felt someone collide with him. falling to the ground, he groaned slightly at the impact. opening his eyes, he may have thought he entered another world when he noticed into familiar brown eyes. catching her heavy breathing and wide eyes, he laughed at her embarrassment.

"kai? oh my gosh, i'm so sorry!" she rushed out, pulling him up by his forearms. they held each other's arms, and kai smiled, relishing in the moment.

"it's no problem. you can't get rid of me that easily!" as he dusted himself off, he took in her eerie silence.

"are you okay? you're usually more talkative than this." she shook her head. tucking a stray hair behind her ear.

"sorry, you're just cute is all." now it was his time to fluster.

 “so, what's the rush? excited to see me?" kai smirked, and jinora jumped.

"oh please. mako just needed to get his book. i didn't want to leave him alone for too long or he'd get lonely. right mako?" she explained, pointing to the firebender behind her. the teasing undertone in her voice caused the boy to snort.

"ah yes because i completely can't handle myself, jinora." mako rolled his eyes, but on the inside he was so tempted to laugh at her and her obvious lying.

"oh, well i can keep you two company if you'd like."

"what? no! it's okay, you wouldn't have any fun anyway. mako and i are going to read for our book club with opal, but since she read ahead, we're going to catch up right now. and didn't you say you were tired?" she fiddled with her fingers and kai shook his head.

"no actually, i feel fine." and jinora internally whispered a few words the spirits would definitely not approve of.

"oh, but sparring must have taken some energy out of you. why don't you relax? we can feed the bison later after you've reenergized." she nodded, and he did the same, only slower.

"great! i'll see you later then!" jinora pecked his cheek and took mako's hand, dragging him away. turning around, he placed his hand on the cheek jinora kissed, laughing at her enthusiasm. luckily, kai was oblivious to jinora's sigh of relief and mako's horrible, yet relentless attempt at teasing.

sliding the door open, he furrowed his eyebrows. everything was a lot neater than it was when he left the morning. he looked around, seeing his bed now gone of the messy pile of blankets. noticing the sheet of his paper that definitely wasn't there that morning, he picked it up with a deep sense of curiosity. he peeked around the halls to make sure he was alone. when he deemed it safe, he slid his door closed. plopping onto the bed, he opened the letter. his eyes skimmed the paper over and over again. seeing the signature, his eyes lit up. immediately did he dig around under his bed.

"aha!" dusting off the box, he opened it to neatly place the letter inside. finding a spare lock, he clicked it on as to ensure his privacy wouldn't be invaded. he looked as though he would fly through the roof with how high he was jumping. taking a piece of paper from his bedside, his grin never faded as he began recalling his thoughts.

bolin and opal

a few weeks later, the couple had just finished up their afternoon date, now on their way to meet up with mako. since it was his day off, the firebender lounged around his room at air temple island reading. bolin, who groaned at the thought of his brother being boring, decided he'd surprise him with a bowl of narook's noodles and some fresh lychees (courtesy of opal).

outside mako's designated room in the boy's dormitories, the earthbender didn't bother to knock as he slid the door open. opal and bolin caught mako jumping, throwing a book at them.

"sorry mako! is this a bad time? we can always come back later when you're ready!" opal peeked from behind her boyfriend's shoulder, and bolin pouted. he held up the bag of food.

"but then his bowl of noodles will get cold!" he whined, and opal placed a hand on his shoulder and a kiss to his cheek. she was about to protest when mako shook his head.

"it's okay opal. why don't you two come in and set up the food on my table? i just have to put this away." the firebender gestured to the writing supplies on his bed. the two walked in, and opal began to set everything up. bolin raised an eyebrow, picking up the book from the floor.

"what are you doing with jinora's special paper?" he pointed out. opal's attention was now towards a stuttering mako.

"what- what are you even talking about? this is a normal piece of paper, bolin." he lifted up the now folded piece of paper. bolin shook his head.

"no, let me see it. i could have sworn there was a small stamp of air temple island at the top." he grabbed the paper, opening it swiftly. mako's eyes widened.

“wait, no!" the firebender was about to make a reach for it, but his little brother already opened it. his eyes brightened as he pointed to the small painting of air temple island.

"what are you writing on here anyway? no one uses jinora's paper but her." bolin had begun reading.

"wait, why is jinora writing to kai? they live on the same island!" he waved the paper in front of mako's face, and the older brother pinched his nose to relieve some stress. as mako snatched the paper back, opal's green eyes brightened as she put two and two together.

"you're the one editing jinora's letters?" mako stiffened, but sighed. he nodded and pointed to the girl.

"how would you know about that though? jinora told me she hasn't told anyone." he asked, and opal's cheeks blushed pink. she twiddled her fingers after handing bolin his noodles.

"well kai, he isn't the most skilled when it comes to writing. so he came to me for help because he knew you were hanging out with jinora a lot! i guess he didn't want you figuring it out or something. it doesn't take much to put together when you have all the clues in front of you." she explained, and he nodded in understanding. there was a silence and the only thing you could hear was bolin slurping his noodles as he looked back and forth between the two. they were just about to eat when kai walked in.

"oh, hey guys! there you are mako, jinora said you'd be here. she said something about reading this book? i wasn't listening to be frank. she just left for republic city so i thought i'd drop it off for you." he smiled, handing mako the book. he waved the book in thanks and the young airbender was just about to leave when bolin gasped and called out,

"you've been writing letters to jinora?! why didn't you tell us? we're your family." kai turned around so fast it almost seemed like a blur.

"to be fair bro, jinora and kai didn't want anyone else knowing. opal and i were just trying to help them out." mako shrugged. kai pointed to his oldest brother.

"wait, you've known that jinora's been writing me letters?"

"yeah, who do you think edits them?"

"she's jinora, the best writer on this island! she doesn't need an editor!" he exclaimed and opal giggled. as bolin's face was now stricken with tears, the three were left to laugh at his reaction.

"mako, our baby brother is growing up!"

"i know, i know. but hey, at least you're in on it now. just, don't tell anyone else. no offense, but you're horrible at keeping secrets."

"shh, we can talk about that later. just let me wallow in peace!"

ikki, meelo, and pema

months after the letters were first being written, the two youngest airbenders were on a search for jinora.

"ugh, meelo this is so stupid! i don't see why we can't just ask dad. he'd know more about it than jinora considering he heard it from grandpa aang first, right?" she exclaimed, flailing her hands in the air.

"shut it, sister! plus dad's busy."

 “that's weird, you've never wanted to leave him alone before." she crossed her arms. meelo shook his head.

"i'm a changed man, ikki!" he exclaimed, before stomping into kai's room. when they find nothing, they groan in frustration.

"i told you we should have checked jinora's room first! now we have to go all the way across the island because we don't have our gliders and we're not wearing our suits." the girl huffed.

"you seem to forget we're master airbenders without our tattoos! air ball!" meelo had gotten a head start as he swerved forward with his air ball. ikki gaped before following suit.

when they got to her room, they noticed a lack of giggling. or noise for that matter. tiptoeing, when they got to their oldest sister's room, meelo busted the door open.

“huh, i wonder where they could be. maybe jinora left a note?" ikki asked, examining the neat area. meelo shook his head, stomping when he noticed a locked box.

"forget that, let's look at what's in here!" he picked it up. shaking the box to imagine its contents, ikki frowned.

"meelo, i really don't think that's a good idea. what if we get caught?" she crossed her arms. meelo ignored her, taking time to focus on the lock. tapping her foot impatiently, she dropped her arms in defeat.

"i'm leaving, this is an invasion of privacy." not even five steps into leaving jinora's room, when ikki heard the lock click open, she rushed to meelo's side in curiosity.

the boy had already begun to sift through the box, all filled with letters. when he deemed them useless, he sighed angrily.

"man, all that work for nothing!" he was already leaving ikki behind. she picked one up and carefully opened it to see kai's scribbly handwriting. she giggled at his attempt of metaphors. the girl hadn't even noticed meelo running back into the room. ikki turned around to whine at her brother, only to meet her mom face to face. smiling gently, pema patted ikki's head.

"hey there sweetie. waiting for jinora here?"

"uh yeah! we couldn't find her so we just thought it'd be nice to stay here."

"alright, well i was going to tell you lunch was ready, but if you'd like to wait that's okay too. what are you reading there?" her mother asked, pointing to the piece of paper. her eyes widened, and ikki instinctively held it behind her back. frantically looking around the room, she tried composing a lie, but her mouth was quicker than her mind.

"they're letters from kai! they're jinora's. i'm so sorry i didn't mean to say that. it's just meelo opened the box and i couldn't help it! please don't tell her." ikki recalled, and pema's eyes widened.

"well, where are they?" and she pointed to the box. picking one up, pema thought her heart would burst out of her chest when she read one of the letters. even meelo opened one, though his tongue stuck out in disgust at the sappiness.