The airbender simply smiled at that and glanced at her watch. She motioned for Seulgi to follow her and sit on the sidewalk, urging her to wait. For what, Seulgi didn't know.

"Should be here anytime soon," Irene mumbled while looking some distance away, drumming her fingertips on the ground. Meanwhile, the admiral decided to study her surroundings and learn more about the city. Seulgi never really bothered to explore other lands besides her own, quite content with what the Fire Nation has to offer. Republic City was really an eye-opener though—the mix of cultures and people was so different from her homeland. Every now and then, Seulgi would see a person garbed in their own native land's garments. It was a whirlwind of colors, ranging from blue, green, red, and even the occasional yellow. The melting pot truly offered something unique from each of the countries.

It didn't take long before her eyes drifted to the girl who sat beside her, looking pensively towards a street corner. She's really beautiful, Seulgi thought to herself as she studied Irene's features—her luscious black hair which flowed in undulated waves, ending past her shoulders; doe-like brown eyes which were expressive, but always had a determined glint; her milky skin which was so smooth and looked as soft as velvet; and her pink lips which were currently forming a smile.

Seulgi was broken from her trance when Irene suddenly shouted out, "There she is!"

"Joohyun!"

The firebender squinted her eyes past the general and towards the corner—her jaw dropping for the second time that day when she saw who Irene was pointing to.

"You?!" the admiral exclaimed as the smaller troublemaker from earlier in the day jumped on Irene and smothered her with a hug. The general turned in a circle with a wide smile on her face, the small girl still holding on tightly, before facing Seulgi.

"You know her?" Irene asked, puzzlement apparent on her face. Seulgi could only stare at the waterbender with disbelief, then looked to Irene.

"I saw her earlier at the park with a taller girl—" the firebender answered, but was cut off by the airbender.

"What?!" It was now Irene's turn to stare incredulously at the adolescent girl. "And what were you doing at the park, young lady? Don't you have classes?"

"It was lunch time, so Sooyoung and I decided to eat out," the girl in question could only sheepishly grin at the older girl.

Irene just pressed her lips together, forming a straight line, then looked back at Seulgi. "Continue what you were saying."

"Well," Seulgi gulped, a bit frightened by the general's change of demeanor. "They were being chased by an officer—"

"What?!" Irene once again cut off. "And why were you being chased by an officer, young lady?"

The small girl hurriedly hid behind Seulgi and cowered in fear because of Irene's glare, nevermind not yet being introduced to each other. "We still had time to spare, so we played around in the water for a while."

"You do know that's illegal, right?" Irene questioned, still glaring.

"But you're my older sister," the adolescent countered, looking at the United Forces general with puppy eyes. "I'll never get caught."

Irene just heaved a sigh, weak against her younger sister. "Just make sure not to do it again, Yerim. You and Sooyoung better find other fun things to do besides pissing off poor officers who are only doing their job."

Yerim grinned at that then moved away from Seulgi's back to hug her older sister again. "Yes, big sis! You're the best!"

Seulgi had a small smile on her face as she looked at the two siblings who were lost in their own world. The admiral thought that this side of the general was different, but much more likeable. Looks like there's more to that annoying grin than I thought, Seulgi mused to herself.

"You look pretty when you smile like that," Irene stated, her head turned towards Seulgi. The admiral's eyes widened almost comically and she quickly averted her gaze to observe a building for the second time. The general just laughed at that, amused by Seulgi's embarrassment and reddened cheeks.

"So," the firebender cleared . "She's the reason you joined pro-bending?" Seulgi asked as a poor way of changing the subject, remembering why they went there in the first place.

"Yup!" Irene giddily exclaimed. "Oh, right! I haven't introduced you to each other yet." the airbender said as she slapped her forehead.

She disentangled Yerim's arms from herself and stood between her younger sister and Seulgi. "Yerim, this is Admiral Kang Seulgi from the Fire Nation," Irene said pointing to Seulgi. Then, a smirk formed on her face before she said, "Hot stuff, this is Kim Yerim, my little sister," making Seulgi glare at the use of that annoying nickname.

However, Yerim was unfazed as she immediately ran to Seulgi with a huge grin.

"You can also just call me Yeri!" shouted the younger girl with a contagious exuberance, eliciting a smile from the admiral. Yeri then proceeded to look her up and down, studying her uniform. As if realizing something, the waterbender turned to her older sister and exclaimed, "Wait! Did you just say Admiral Kang Seulgi?"

Knowing what her sister was going to say next, Irene just nodded with a cute grin on her face.

Yeri's eyes widened and popped open before she turned to face Seulgi once again, "You're the crown princess of the Fire Nation?"

Seulgi nodded while Irene's grin just widened.

"You're the next Fire Lord?" Yeri questioned, excitement lacing her tone.

The princess looked around first before nodding, glad that there were no people to hear.

"This is so cool!" the young waterbender squealed, garnering a chuckle from both Irene and Seulgi. "I have connections with royalty and the next Fire Lord! Sooyoung is so gonna flip when she hears this," she declared before laughing evilly.

"Hey, stop that," Irene scolded Yeri, albeit smirking. "You might scare away your connection with your evil plans."

The younger girl just blinked rapidly while shaking her head, hands laid out before her. "No, no, no, don't believe her, Your Highness! She's the evil one!"

Seulgi just laughed, both at the younger girl's denial and Irene's reaction to it.

"No need to address me like that, Yeri. Just call me by my name," Seulgi smiled before eyeing Irene. "And I think what you said is true," making the airbender huff.

The firebender laughed once again before asking, "How come Yeri's surname is different from yours?" noticing it earlier when Irene introduced them to each other.

"It's a long story," Irene hummed before glancing at Yerim who was smiling at her. "Why don't we talk about it over dinner? It's almost nighttime, anyway."

"Ooh, yes!" the little troublemaker shouted, wide grin in place. "There's this really great restaurant which serves the best Water Tribe noodles ever!"

Irene could only laugh in delight as she saw the poor bear get dragged by her ecstatic little sister down the street. The airbender was about to follow them when she felt a very slight change in the surrounding air—something others wouldn't easily notice—, making her whip around to catch whatever it was. Besides the small rustle of the leaves of a tree near her, she didn't see anything suspicious. The general took one last glance around before she followed the two. Must be an animal or something, Irene shrugged.

"Wait," Seulgi stopped Irene from continuing. "So you two aren't related at all?" she asked, confused by what the general said. *How came they have the same annoying smile then?, the princess mused to herself.

Yeri slurped her noodles a tad too loud before saying, "That's correct, Your Highness!" Seulgi could only laugh at the younger one's actions. Despite her saying that it was fine if she just addressed her normally, the younger girl couldn't contain her excitement and was really giddy about the fact that she knows the crown princess, so Seulgi just let her be. The young waterbender was really cute after all.

Irene just nodded at that and continued, "We both came from the orphanage. I was fifteen and she was seven when we first met each other." Then, the airbender suddenly had a steely look to her eyes as she said her next words, "Yerim just arrived and she was crying, having just been passed to another orphange for the umpteenth time. The other kids were bullying her and I just couldn't take it, so I blew them all away."

"You should've seen her! She was so cool!" the waterbender exclaimed. "Joohyun has always protected me ever since that day," Yerim added as she looked at the former lovingly.

"Which was pro-bending?" Seulgi asked, finally connecting the dots.

Irene nodded and added, "Turns out all those years of having to fend off bullies came in handy," she laughed at the memory. "And there you have it! Yerim is the reason I'm here today." she finished with a smile.

The general then looked up from her noodles when she noticed the lack of slurping from the girl seated in front of her and right away broke into a grin when she saw what the firebender was doing.

"Oho," Irene let out, amused at the sight of the princess who was looking to the side and nowhere near her and Yerim's direction. "Bear, are you crying?" she laughed.

Meanwhile, the admiral just swiped at her eyes in a fleeting manner. "No! No, I'm not crying!" she profusely denied in vain. "Something just got in my eye!" Seulgi added, still not looking at them.

The two sisters just laughed in glee, finding it funny how the princess denied what was so obvious.

The airbender avoided that, of course, making the two laugh more.

author's note:

some cute family bonding time! yay! and omg have you all seen those holy fancams of seulgi performing while wearing a crop top? //nosebleed// DEM ABS ASDLGHKSHFKL. and her upload in instagram? the one where she tries (note: tries) to wink? she even used a bunny filter OTL i'll stop now before this gets too long i just really love seulgi. thank you to all of you who continue to read this story! and hi to all the new readers! till the next chapter yo~