Chapter One – Emergence

Pema sighed as she watched Rohan and Meelo bicker in the courtyard. From her high vantage point she could see the entire training session, and it was clear as day how uncomfortable their constant fighting was making the newest recruits. Several of the younger airbenders were grouped together in the back warily gossiping, and the more experienced benders were just casting worried glances at one another; they'd been in the middle of learning a new movement when Meelo had none too gently corrected Rohan's form, and Rohan was less than receptive to the unwanted criticism in front of their students. Their mother knew that if Tenzin was here to supervise, this bickering never would have broken out. Even if Jinora was here, she could have at least soothed her brother's mutual frustrations to keep the class running smoothly.

Pema leaned her chin in her hand as she watched from the tower window, urging her boys silently to put their fighting aside to just get on with the class; the instruction of new airbenders was the most important task at hand. Several years had passed since Harmonic Convergence, and still, new airbenders were showing up at Air Temple Island every day from around the world. Perhaps not as numerous as they once were, still, it was a substantial trickle. Just last week a pair of sisters from the Water Tribes had arrived, and a boy from the Earth Kingdom. And now, what a bad impression this was on the new students.

As Pema watched in frustration, her eyes wandered around the courtyard; farther away, she could see more advanced students practicing on the cliffside, as well as several gliders flitting around in the breeze above the ocean spray. Despite the disharmonious bickering directly below her, the island was vibrant and alive; so different than when it had been just her, Tenzin, and the children. Five airbenders was a family, but this….this was a nation. That thought put a small smile on Pema's face.

It didn't stick around for long.

Movement near the docks caught Pema's eye, and she glanced down to see a figure moving away from the ferry boat and up the flight of in-hill stairs towards the main courtyard. It was a familiar sight for the mother of Tenzin's children; another future airbending master approaching the Temple for the first time after discovering their newly awoken airbending abilities. She watched as the figure approached the beginner's class, somewhat timidly, and attempt to get Meelo or Rohan's attention. It was obvious these two were in charge, they were the only two in glider suits, though their actions did not seem to befit leaders in any way. Pema sat up as she watched in dismay, the newcomer shyly attempting once again to get one of their attention, but as the boys continued to argue, they seemed to shrink away and back up. Pema got to her feet at once; she wanted her boys to find their own path to peace on their own, but ignoring a potential new student was not something she could stand idly by for.

Picking up the hem of her skirt so she didn't trip, she rushed down the stone spiral staircase, blowing past several air acolytes on the way down, and burst out of the door to the courtyard just in time to see the new student, a young woman, turn away from Meelo and Rohan timidly, as if giving up trying to get their attentions away from one another. She tossed a stern glare towards her sons as she passed, and Pema sped over to the newcomer, laying a hand on her shoulder to halt her.

"Hey! Hi!" she greeted, a teeny bit out of breath from running over. Behind her, both her boys realized what had just happened, and clammed up sheepishly. "I am SO sorry about that! They may be close to mastering airbending, but my sons are still a long way off from becoming master teachers!" The girl turned to look at Pema, shying away slightly from her touch, shrugging slightly. Her bright amber eyes flickered from the motherly woman's face back down to the ground. "Oh, where are my manners! I'm Pema! Tenzin is my husband. You must be a new airbender…?"

"…I'm….I'm a firebender, actually," she girl corrected, rubbing her arm awkwardly. Pema tried to keep the disappointment from touching her face, but her shoulders did lower slightly.

"Oh! Oh, I'm sorry, I just assumed….of course you're a firebender!" Pema laughed it off, her cheeks a little red. "Well, it seems all of us are getting off on the wrong foot! Well, Miss firebender, do you have a name?"

"…Rei." She seemed nervous for some reason, though Pema just wrote it off as shyness. She could relate to that; before she'd married, she wondered if any of the air acolytes had even known her name.

"Well, what brings you to Air Temple Island, Rei?" The girl was worrying her bottom lip with her teeth, and fidgeting with her fingers. She wore heavy course leather gloves on her hands, and her relatively small frame was clad in simple fire nation appropriate clothing; Pema wondered if she'd come straight here off a boat from the heart of the fire nation.

"I, uh….I came to get some….answers I guess." Her voice was slightly shaky as she spoke, and she swallowed hard to try and steady it. "I had a couple questions for one of the Airbending Masters, or…or the Avatar would be even better."

"Oh, huh. I'm sorry dear, the Avatar is away in the spirit world at the moment, and my husband and Jinora are in Ba Sing Se for the new elections. They should be back in a few days." Pema was a little disappointed, true, that this wasn't a new airbender, but her motherly instincts were kicking in, and this girl's worried demeanor was setting off some major mom-alarms. She was suddenly a little worried herself. "Is everything alright, sweetheart? Are you okay? Maybe I can help you; I've been an air acolyte all my life!" Rei met her concerned gaze again, and strangely, felt a little better; she was still agonized with anxiety and her chest felt as if it were about to explode, but this woman, Pema, had such a calming energy about her. It put Rai a little at ease.

"U-um, well…..I….. I'll just come back when they return," she hurriedly stammered, and turned suddenly, trying to dash off, but Pema's mother reflexes came out, and again she grabbed Rei by the shoulder. Something wasn't right here, and Pema was almost afraid if she let this young woman run off, she'd never come back, and she seemed to really want to ask Tenzin something.

"Hey, what's the rush? You know, we air acolytes love sharing our culture with the world; would you like to stay for dinner? We're having traditional Air Nation dumpling soup tonight!" Pulling Rei in, Pema wrapped an arm around her shoulder, giving her a warm smile as she started to walk the two of them towards the temple. The girl initially attempted a weak protest, but relented; it wasn't like she was in a hurry to go and try to bum a free bowl of soup from some shopkeeper in the city.

"There we go!" Pema set down a piping hot bowl of soup and a pair of chopsticks in front of Rei, along with a bowl of rice, a few bowls of condiments, and finally a pitcher of water in the center of the table. When Pema has invited Rei to stay for dinner, Rei had imagined she'd be eating in the dormitories with the air students and acolytes; not at Pema's family's dinner table. But Pema had insisted, and so as she laid out dinner for the unexpected guest, Rei bowed deeply to express her embarrassment and gratitude.

"This is too much for me, Ma'am," she said quietly, though she was starving. She could have inhaled every last grain of rice on the table by herself.

"Nonsense!" Pema chirped, serving her sons as well before sitting down. Rei picked up her chopsticks, but Rohan quickly cleared his throat to catch her attention. The firebender looked up to see all three of them clasping their hands together in a meditative pose, and she realized with a start that they were about to say a blessing. Rei had never been very spiritual herself, and her mother had never said a blessing over a meal before, but she quickly set her chopsticks down and followed suit, keeping her eyes warily on the others. "Rohan," Pema said somewhat sternly. "Would you like to lead the blessing?"

"Okay." One of his eyes peeped open to glare at Meelo, before glancing at Rei, and closing again. "We're thankful tonight for this food, the fire in our ovens and hearths, and for new friends the universe has brought us-"

"And old friends and family," Pema interjected, smiling slightly, keeping her eyes closed. Rohan's eyes were still closed as well, though Rei could see him shake his head slightly; if they were open, he would have been rolling them.

"-and family, yeah, sure." Meelo's elbow shot out and jabbed Rohan in the side, which the younger boy quickly retaliated, though quietly, as to not alert their mother.

"That was very nice, Rohan," Pema said, smiling as she opened her eyes to see her two sons beaming fake smiles at her, though she chose to ignore their obvious attempts to disguise their jabs at one another, and turned her attention to Rei. Rei had picked up her chopsticks immediately after Rohan had finished the blessing, and was already polishing off her second dumpling when Pema chuckled good naturedly. "Hungry I see?" Rei swallowed, cheeks flaring red, but smiled, nodding her head demurely.

"It's really good…thank you!" As she spoke, she fumbled with her chopsticks, and one dropped on the table, snatching it back up, she seemed to be having a little trouble holding them. She was still wearing her bulky leather gloves, though.

"You can take your gloves off, you know," Meelo said, pointing at her with his own chopsticks. "It's actually kind of rude to wear them at the table."

"Says the one pointing with his chopsticks like some country rube," Rohan said with a mouth full of food. Pema just sighed, rolling her eyes.

"I…I'd rather keep them on…if that's alright with you, Ma'am," Rei said, addressing their mother.

"Of course, dear, whatever makes you more comfortable. As you can see, we're really not very stickler for manners here-" She said this right as Rohan was juuuust about to stick a finger in his nose, but he paused, catching a glare from his mother, and slowly lowering his hand. "...Besides. Gloves inside never hurt anyone. But I have to ask, if it's alright, why DO you wear them?"

"Ah….well, when I was little, my mom made me wear fire resistant gloves before I learned how to control my bending. …..I burnt a lot of hand-shaped burns into the wallpaper growing up. And now I- ….I just like it, I guess." It wasn't necessarily a lie, but Rei still couldn't make eye contact with Pema as she said it.

"That's a pretty good idea, actually!" Pema was rather chatty, Rei found, but didn't necessarily need Rei to answer much back to keep the conversation going, which Rei really appreciated. She wasn't in a super chatty mood lately. But it was nice, having some idle chatter fill her ears instead of being alone with her thoughts. It was a nice break. And Pema was so kind; Rei wondered how such a nice lady raised boys who seemed so at odds with one another.

Finishing up both servings Pema dolled out to her, Rei felt comfortably full for the first time since she'd left home, which was a while ago. As Meelo excused himself to go start on his nightly meditation, Rei stood and began gathering up the empty dishes she'd created, looking around rather sheepishly.

"Where is your kitchen?" she asked, and ferried her dishes into the next room. Setting them down on the counter, she reached to turn the faucet, but Pema was quick to shoo her away from the sink.

"No, no, you're a guest! Guests do not do dishes!"

"My Mother always taught me that guests should do dishes, though," Rei protested, and the older woman just chuckled.

"Sounds like she had some good lessons up her sleeve, but here at the temple, I couldn't possibly let a guest clean up themselves, not on their first day here!" Waving Rei out of the kitchen, she motioned for Rohan to follow them. "So, are you staying somewhere in Republic City, Rei? Rohan could fly you to the mainland on his bison?"

"Oh, yes, I should probably go and try to find a hostel with some space available." Rei barely had enough cash for maybe a weeks stay at a cheap hostel, if she really rationed her food money she figured. But this answer didn't suit Pema, it seemed, and she shook her head.

"A hostel? Well that's a good way to get ruffed up by Triad Wannabes. No, that simply won't do. Rohan, would you lead our guest to the girl's dormitories, please?"

"Please, you've already been so hospitable," Rei said, a little panicky; no one had ever been this nice to her for no reason. Pema barely knew Rei! The firebender couldn't have known this, though, but this was simply Pema's way. Her mothering instincts didn't just stop short at her children. And the queer way this girl behaved, and her insistence to talk to Tenzin or Jinora was throwing up some flags to Pema; she wasn't just about to let this girl wander alone through the city. "I-I would hate to take up space that an airbending student could have-"

"Hush, I've already decided!" Pema smiled kindly. "Besides, your demeanor suits the Island; you have a certain calmness to you. You'll fit right in with the airbending students." Rei internally laughed at that statement; a calmness to her? Rei was anything BUT. Perhaps her surface was quite placid, but underneath, her emotions were turbulent. But then again, she wasn't about to pass up free lodging, and after all, when Tenzin did finally return, she'd be right there front and center.

"I don't know how I can repay you," she said quietly, as Rohan waved her to follow him.

"Air nomads aren't big on debts," Pema reassured her, and waved as the young firebender followed Rohan down the corridor.

Rei sat on the cot uncertainly, leaning over to unlace her boots. She felt so out of place; like a fly floating in a saucer of cream. The other girls in the dorm, there was five of them to a room, kept staring at her, and Rei could feel their eyes on the back of her head. She felt so awkward!

"So… you're NOT an airbender?" one of the girls finally asked; she had light brown hair, and barely looked ten years old.

"...I'm a firebender," Rei repeated evasively.

"So, why are you here?" one of the older girls asked, an olive skinned girl closer to Rei's age. The question wasn't exactly hostile, Rei was sure this student was just curious, but it still felt like a jab.

"I….I came to seek advice from Tenzin, but since he's not here, Ms. Pema let me stay until he returns." The two silent girls, twins in their early thirties it looked like, glanced at each other.

"What did you want to ask him?" the youngest girl queried, laying on her back on her cot, her head hanging off the side to look at Rei upside down, hugging her pillow to her chest.

"That's uh...private." She pursed her lips then, reaching up to untwist the bun at the top of her head, letting her black hair down around her shoulders. The girls all exchanged looks, but ultimately decided to leave the newcomer alone; she obviously didn't want to talk.

Oh, but Rei DID want to talk. She wanted to ask them a million questions, stay up all night listening to and internalizing the answers! Each question was balancing riiight on the tip of her tongue, but it was as if she had no voice to ask any of them. She glanced back at them, and took a deep breath.

"How….how did it feel when you discovered your airbending?" she blurted out, and four pairs of eyes turned to Rei in the flickering candle face was quite pink, but it was such a burning question, she had to ask. Again, the youngest girl spoke up first.

"Like a burst of energy," she said, shrugging. "I was playing with my friends, we were laughing and running and suddenly I just felt so joyous and light, I felt like I could fly! Then when I opened my eyes, I saw that I was."

"Yeah, it felt like suddenly, my troubles weighed less on my mind. I knew that something wonderful had just happened, and it made my spirit feel easy." The older girl nodded, then turned to the twins. "What about you two, Peng, Jing?"

"I caught a cold from my son," the twin on the left said, "and I gave that cold to Jing when she came over for tea. Then, almost at the same time, we both sneezed, and blew ourselves clear out of our hut and out into the snow."

"Yes, it was quite a shock," Jing said, and cracked a very small smile on her otherwise severe face.

"So, when did it happen?" Rei pressed, turning on her cot to face them fully. "All at once, or gradually, over time?"

"It was all at once for me," the youngest girl said, "My dad says I have a natural talent for bending. But Akira's bending happened over time."

"Yes," the elder girl, Akira, said, "It came in little increments for me over about a year. At first, I wasn't even really sure it was airbending, I thought maybe I was always getting caught in a wind storm." Rei's interest was truly piqued at that and she nodded for her to go on.

"What made you realize it was bending, then?"

"I guess….I guess when I started to actually use it to benefit me. Some leaves blew into my kitchen one day through an open door, and I blasted them back out without having to touch the broom. It hit me then; I just used airbending to do a chore. I'm an airbender now."

"Why do you ask?" Peng said, raising an eyebrow. Rei stammered a bit, shrugging.

"I-I've just never met an airbender before. Haven't really met any benders besides firebenders, really. I live in a small village on the Fire Nation Island of Hokeji, so, the only benders there bend fire, and even then, there's not that many of us."

"Well, we need to get to sleep," Akira said, taking the youngest girls' pillow out of her hands and tossing it at the head of her cot. "We have a five am jog to complete with Meelo tomorrow morning."

"Oh, okay….sorry!" Clamming up, Rei quickly pulled her tunic up over her head and swapped it out for some of the air nomad style pajamas Rohan had given her, preparing for bed.

"...But you can ask us any questions you want after training tomorrow," Akira went on, and smiled somewhat awkwardly as Rei glanced over her shoulder at her.

"Thank you."

"Jinora!" Pema threw her arms out as Jinora lept from Oogie's back and landed softly on the cobblestone in front of her mother. She let Pema crush her in a hug, wrapping her own arms around her and giggling.

"Mom, we weren't gone that long!" she laughed, accepting the smooch her mother planted on her cheek. "Just two weeks."

"Felt like an eternity to me!" Pema straightened up as Tenzin landed Oogie down gently, and stepped out of his saddle and down to the ground. "There he is!"

"Hello, Darling," he greeted his wife, kissing her forehead lovingly. "Everything alright here while we were gone?"

"Yes, though the boys have been bickering a bit more than usual," Pema reported, walking with her husband and eldest daughter towards the Temple. "But the training of the new recruits has been going according to schedule."

"I'll go check on them," Jinora said, giving her mother a quick peck on the cheek, before running off to find her brothers and the new students. Her two parents watched her go and continued to speak quietly as they made their way across the courtyard. Not far off, though, a pair of amber eyes followed the aging Airbending Master as he walked.

Rei stood up from where she'd been sitting on the short cobblestone wall. She'd been waiting for about a week at that point, and while she'd been settling in at the Temple fairly well, now that she saw Tenzin up close, she was feeling quite jittery again. Hopping down, she made her way over to him quickly. She caught his eyes as she approached, and cutting off his sentence to his wife, he turned to regard this stranger curiously.

"Ah, hello," he greeted, "You're unfamiliar to me. Have we met?"

"No, Master Tenzin," Rei said, nervously fidgeting with her gloves once more.

"Oh, right, Tenzin, this is Rei! She's a firebender, she came last week looking for you, Jinora or Korra." Pema supplied, introducing the two, and Rei bowed her head respectfully to him.

"I see. Why me or Jinora or Korra specifically?" he asked, raising one slightly overgrown grey eyebrow. Rei swallowed hard; this was it. It was finally time. She removed her gloves, dismayed to find her hands sweaty and clammy inside.

"I...I have a problem," Rei said, taking a deep breath.

"Oookay?" Tenzin prompted, glancing at Pema for clues, but she was just as confused as he was. He regarded Rei warily, as she turned away from him, and assumed what he knew was a starting firebending stance.

"Well, a few weeks ago, I woke up and something was….different. Off. I was in denial for a long time but….I can't lie to myself any more." Closing her eyes briefly, Rei began moving through the stance movements, but at the end, as she extended her closed fists outwards towards the small grove of fruit trees on one side of the Island, it wasn't fire that was emitted from her hands. Instead, a strong gust of wind erupted from her fists, and shook the grove right down to it's roots, Straightening up, Rei slowly turned to look back at Tenzin and Pema, both of which were staring wide-eyed at her.

"I….I thought you said you were a firebender?" Pema asked, looking her up and down.

"I am," Rei replied, holding up one hand, and producing a small, warm flame in her palm, before snuffing it out.

"But….but you just bent air!" Tenzin said, clearly aghast.

"So, you see my problem…." All three of them, plus any students who had witnessed it in the courtyard, stood there silently for what felt like eons to Rei. She couldn't read Tenzin's facial expression, but when he finally broke and started to speak, what he said didn't do a good job of alleviating her fears.

"Send a message to Korra in the Spirit World; she has to see this."