There are a thousand things I want to say. And this, I was taught, I should do.

Sometimes in the deep hush of the star-studded night, he hears whispers in the wind; telling him history and secrets. The softest breath brushes butterfly kisses across his mind, ancient half-words murmured against his ears.

I want to tell you that you are smart, clever, and courageous.

So he turns to see his family, fiercely branding his brain with their faces, scorching their voices into his spirit.

I want to tell you that you are valiant, sensitive, witty, and sweet.

But when Katara cracks a sleepy eye open to ask if he's okay, if he's alright, he only smiles in response, because he's done this for hundred's of thousand's of years.

I want to tell you how your hair glows in the sunlight, how I can see your soul through bright blue eyes.

He doesn't tell her that when he ceases to breathe, she will only become one more of the countless whispers on silent starry nights.

I want to hold you close, tell you I will protect you, for now and forever.

He is scared. He thinks about how every Avatar before him has had to lose the one they love, leave behind everything they had, only for someone else to be reborn and make their own life out of it. He knows he will have to let her go too, and it scares him knowing that he won't remember her.

He is scared he won't be able to tell her how he feels.

No, that is the one thing I can never say, for monks are forbidden to love as I love you.

He loves her - that's all.

...

A/N: Okay, sooo I think how to explain this: The italics are kinda what like Aang has thought over time, or at the current moment, whatever suits better, but they're his thoughts. And, uh, I don't know where in the timeline to set this. Oh and incase you didn't know, "transience" pretty much means a short amount of time.