Avatar:Tapeesa

Tapeesa

Nationality	Long Stretch, Northern Water Tribe
Ethnicity	Water Tribe
Love interest	Ujurak (husband)
Position	Accountant at Nuqingaq and Partners
Affiliation	Nuqingaq and Partners
Profession	Accountant
Allies	Avatar Yangchen
First appearance	"Forgiveness"
Last appearance	"Coming to the Table"

Tapeesa was the wife of Ujurak and mother of Kalyaan and Kavik. She was a Northern Water Tribe woman who migrated to the shang city of Bin-Er with her family in the hope of a better life.

History

Tapeesa married Ujurak and had two sons, Kalyaan and Kavik, both of whom were waterbenders. She named her younger son after her grandfather. The family lived in the Long Stretch region of the Northern Water Tribe, west of Agna Qel'a. When Kavik was eight, he and Kalyaan were lost in a storm during a hunt, and returned only after a month, nearly having been mourned for dead. Kalyaan carried his brother to Ujurak and Tapeesa, having lost two fingers to frostbite after he fed Kavik pieces of his own mitten.

Shortly after Kalyaan and Kavik returned, hunts started souring across the region, season after season. Four years after the hunt, the family crossed the straits to settle in the shang city of Bin-Er to ride out the hard times, encouraged by distant relations who had already moved there. The family settled in the Water Tribe Quarter, where their neighbors were former hunting partners, and went to work with Nuqingaq and Partners, an all-Water Tribe shop, with Tapeesa and her husband working as accountants. However, less than six moons later, Kalyaan quit his job, and the family became pariahs inside their own place of employment. Kalyaan came home less and less, and there were rumors that he had become a spy. Kalyaan gifted the family a new house, but Kalyaan never came home again one day after someone poached their most critical customers. Kavik also quit after feeling himself shunned by the Water Tribe community of Bin-Er for his brother's actions.

Five years after they had arrived in the city, Ujurak and Tapeesa were both worried about Kavik's actions, and were becoming skeptical about the string of odd jobs he claimed to have had. One day, Tapeesa welcomed Kavik back home as she was making a pot of stew, and Ujurak asked about what he had been doing, pointing out that Kavik's supposed boss Chan had not seen him in weeks. Ujurak and Tapeesa knew he was likely a spy and errand-runner, and at least asked to know who his boss was, with Tapeesa warning him about the path he was going down. When he said he was working to get Kalyaan back, Tapeesa begged him to stop, and was heartbroken as she did not want to lose her younger son, too. At that same moment, the family heard a knock on the door, and Tapeesa was shocked to see that Avatar Yangchen had come to see them. Tapeesa and her husband both showered Yangchen with respect, though the airbender asked them not to be so formal and treat it as a regular Air Nomad visit of alms. Tapeesa almost cried when she realized she was just about to serve a meat stew to Yangchen when Ujurak pointed it out, though Yangchen said that the Western Air Temple would permit her to eat it, as it was being shared by someone from another nation. When they were still skeptical, she offered to eat around the meat.

Yangchen told them that she was there to talk to people in Bin-Er directly and learn from them first-hand, and inquired about their lives. Ujurak and Tapeesa told them about why they had come to Bin-Er, and that they desired to return to the North, but the corrupt control office would not issue exit passes to anyone. Yangchen then asked them if they were aware what Kavik did for her earlier; while Ujurak and Tapeesa were anxious at first, the Avatar elaborated that he had stopped a thief for her, recovering a vital piece of political information. She asked to speak with Kavik alone, and Ujurak and Tapeesa agreed, almost dismissing themselves from the main chamber, though their son and the Avatar went to Kavik's room alone instead. When Yangchen and Kavik re-entered the main chamber, the Avatar declared that she had offered Ujurak and Tapeesa's son the chance to become one of her official companions in recognition of his bravery. Ujurak and Tapeesa almost bawled in each other's shoulders from happiness.

When the Unanimity project's display began in Bin-Er, Ujurak and Tapeesa huddled as far as they could from the walls, dust raining down from the explosions of combustionbenders. Tapeesa was crying from her fear, though she was relieved when she saw Kavik arrive. She asked where the Avatar was and why she was not with him, but Kavik promised her that Yangchen would be there soon. Kavik kept his parents away from the door when Jujinta arrived looking for him.

After the combustionbender demonstration, Tapeesa and Ujurak were given passes to return home to Long Stretch, where they remained safe and oblivious to the real business of either of their sons. The Order of the White Lotus protected both of them when they arrived back, though they were unaware of it.

Relatives

				Kavik
				Unknown
Ujurak				Tapeesa
Kavik				Kalyaan				Chaisee
						Son

Trivia

• Kavik could recognize Tapeesa coming down the stairs by the sliding "swish" noise she made, as she always held onto the bannister when possible.