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It started as any normal afternoon would: sitting by the turtleduck pond in the palace gardens, her papa on one side of her, messing with some fidget toy Aunt Toph made him and her dad on her other, showing her all the different colors of fire he could make.
Then a Kyoshi Warrior ran to them, frightening a flock of turtleducks.
The warrior whispered something into her dad’s ear, and he stiffened, his pink flame poofing out of existence. She then moved to the other side and whispered something to her papa, and his smile faded.
“Thank you,” her dad said, and the warrior nodded. But she didn’t leave like she normally would have. Instead, she stood by her dad’s side.
Her dads exchanged a look. Izumi hated when they did that. They were able to talk to each other without actually speaking. It was gross—just like watching them kiss.
Then, her papa turned to her, placing a jittering hand on her shoulder. She thought nothing of it, his hands always moved a lot. “Sweetie,” he began, but his voice was rough and he had to pause to lick his lips. “Here, in the garden, let’s play a game. You know, our favorite game.”
He stood, gently pulling her up with him. Then, he pointed further into the garden, away from the pond. “Go over there, stay in the garden and hide. Stand very still, be very quiet, and I’m going to come find you.”
Oh, she loved playing hide and seek! Izumi was really good at hiding—it always took them so long to find her. They’ve never played in the garden before, though! There were lots of places to hide here! “This’ll be so much fun!” she told him, grinning and bouncing on the balls of her feet.
And then he smiled, but it wasn’t as big as it usually was. Then, he looked behind him. “Dad is going to play too,” he said, speaking slowly. “He’s going to hide too.”
“Can he hide with me?” Izumi asked, excited. Her dads never hid with her—they always found her together.
“No!” Her dad all but screamed. He slapped a hand over his mouth, sending an apologetic look to the Kyoshi Warrior who was started at the sound beside him. “I mean,” now he was whispering, “it’s not fun if we hide together. But, Penguin, are you sure I should hide? I’m—uh—I think that I should be the seeker.”
Izumi didn’t know why it was that big of a deal—she was never allowed to be the seeker.
“No! I want to!” papa whisper-yelled at the same time the Kyoshi Warrior hissed “Absolutely not.”
So, she was playing too. That was fun!
"We usually play inside. This is... this is different," Papa added. She didn't really get how it was different—the rules were the same and there were still places to hide. But Papa was really smart and was usually right about everything, so she nodded.
Dad’s eyes narrowed, but Papa was glaring at him. “You should hide too,” he finally muttered.
Well, that wouldn’t work! So, Izumi giggled. “Dad, Papa can’t hide! Then there won’t be anyone to find us!”
“Exactly.” Her papa spoke breathlessly.
Izumi turned to skip away, but her papa grabbed her hand before she could.
“Baby, I’m going to count to one hundred, okay?” he told her, blinking more forcefully than usual (but that was still normal for him, so she didn't think question it).
She nodded. “Okay!” she chirped. Then, both of her dads lunged forward and wrapped her in a tight hug, her dad’s hand lingering on her back for a moment.
That was so dramatic—she was just going to hide. Besides, she liked this game. She’s happy to play.
So, her papa turned around, his hand grasping the hilt of his sword and tapping his fingers against it, and he began to walk away, so slowly it almost looked like he was drifting away.
Izumi looked at her dad, who was still staring at papa’s retreating form. He had a sour look on his face, like the one he makes when someone says something mean about her papa or when Papa beats him at pai sho.
“Dad—”
“Go hide, Duckling. I’m going to hide somewhere else. So-so we don’t make it easy for Papa.”
That was smart. “Okay!”
Dad gave her one last quick hug, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “I love you so much,” he whispered. The warrior nudged him, tilting her head in the opposite direction. “Go hide,” he repeated. And then, they were gone.
So, Izumi skipped further into the garden, searching for a good hiding place. She had to be fast, though, because Papa would probably start seeking soon.
She ended up hiding inside of a thick bush where fire lilies were growing. She was wearing red today, so she thought the flowers might make her blend in a bit more.
And so she happily waited, counting the seconds. She wasn’t the best at counting, but she got to one hundred and heard nothing.
The leaves and sticks brushed against her skin, and she was sure that she’d have some scratches by the time her papa found her. But it was okay because her dads always gently washed her cuts whenever she got hurt.
She waited and waited and waited.
It felt like she was waiting there for hours. Was she doing it right? Was she hiding in the right area? Did she go too far? No, she was sure. She was hiding in one of the areas Papa pointed at. Maybe he got lost. The garden was really big after all.
At one point, she almost got out and was going to try to find her dad to hide with him, but then she remembered what her dads said about staying still, so she didn’t move. She waited.
And waited.
And waited.
And waited.
She waited while the rays of sun began to fade, as the sky began to lose some of its light. It wasn’t completely dark—but the sun’s light had faded a significant amount since they started the game.
She was getting bored, but she trusted her dads.
Still, she waited.
After what seemed like thousands of years, she heard heavy panting. Finally, something!
Her dad came into the clearing, his hair disheveled and robes torn. One of his sleeves was hanging on by a thread and Izumi could see a long angry scratch going up his arm. It was bleeding, blood plopping onto the grass. The Kyoshi Warrior was right behind him and in a similar state—she was limping and her makeup was smudged.
Ah, he must’ve hid in some bushes too. Maybe he got scratched by thorns. Izumi smiled, as icky as it would be to see her papa kiss her dad’s scratch better (because she knew that was what they were going to do—they're so gross), she bet that Papa would let her help bandage Dad. Maybe he’d let her pick out the bandaid—she liked the colorful ones!
“Izumi?” her dad screamed, his voice cracking and desperate. “Izumi? Baby, the game is over! Come out, please come out! Izumi!”
Oh, so Papa must have given up—she hid that well!
Izumi placed a smug smile on her face, excited to brag about how good of a hider she was, and stumbled out of the bush.
Dad was at her side instantly, one hand on her cheek and the other lifting up her arms and inspecting them.
“Baby, did you see anyone? Did anyone come near you?” he asked, his eyes scanning her up and down. He saw one of the biggest scratches she got from a particularly annoying branch that cut through her pants and went across her knee and he paled. “How’d you get that?”
“Don’t worry, Dad!” she laughed. “It’s just from a branch!”
Both her dad and the warrior behind him let out a breath of air. “Thank Agni,” he muttered.
“Papa’s bad at this game, isn’t he?” she asked, giggling. “He never found me!”
She thought her dad would laugh with her. Instead, his eyes filled with tears, his bottom lip quivered, and that was her only warning before he left out a heart-shattering wail, wrapping his arms around her so tightly Izumi had trouble breathing.
Confused, she glanced at the Kyoshi Warrior over his shoulder, but she was crying too—her face scrunched in pain as silent tears cascaded down her cheeks.
She never did see her papa again.
And still, it took her ages to realize why her papa wasn’t there, why he wanted to play.