"I'm bored," I whispered to my friend Abby in band. That was the week of playing grades, where everyone was tested on each of the six (seven, if you counted chromatic) scales. As usual, Abby and I had played earlier, and were waiting for everyone else to hurry through.
"I'm cold," she whispered back. The large room was always cold, though the temperature forever read 70 degrees Fahrenheit.
I shifted in my seat, a black chair designed to help you sit up straight and have good posture while you play.
"I've got to get out of here," I sighed.
"So ask to go to the bathroom."
"Hey, I have an idea! I'll ask to go to the bathroom!"
She rolled her eyes at me, but smiled as she knew I was joking with her.
I raised my hand, and after scribbling a note down on her impossibly full clipboard, our band director nodded in my direction.
"Yes, Elizabeth?"
"Sorry to bother, ma'am, but it's an emergency – of the bathroom persuasion," I replied, wiggling around a bit to make it look convincing.
She sighed. "Well, take the pass and don't be long."
After a quick "Thanks", I grabbed the rectangular, wooden pass from the whiteboard ledge and hurried out of the large room. Down the hall and turn left, last door on the left side. A bathroom.
Locking myself in a middle stall (never the first, never the last – always middle), I decided it might be a good idea and go anyway so I wouldn't have lied.
The strangest thing happened to me when I reached for the toilet paper – one tiny tug and I felt like I was falling, falling into another world.
Apparently, I'd been knocked out by the fall, because when I opened my eyes, three very familiar faces were staring at me.
I sat up quickly and looked down – thank God, something must have pulled my jeans back up when I fell.
One of the people spoke; the youngest one, a bald boy with a blue arrow tattooed on his head. "Are you all right? That was a pretty nasty fall there."
"You should come with us," said the second person, the only girl. She was wearing a blue dress with a white belt.
"The kid's fine," muttered the third, the oldest of the group – also in blue and white clothing. "I don't know why you were worried."
"You weren't worried?" asked the girl sarcastically. "I bet that's why you freaked out then." She smiled and the younger boy laughed.
"What's your name?" the younger boy asked me.
"Elizabeth," I replied, trying to hide how excited I was.
"Strange name," the older boy muttered darkly.
"Oh, it's ok, you can trust me," I said, smiling. I should have known this would be his reaction. Typical, really. "Nice wolftail." I pointed to his hair and smiled wider when his frown deepened.
"I'm Aang," said the youngest, who also happened to be the Avatar – master of all four elements. "And this is Katara, and her older brother Sokka. Please ignore him, he hates everyone."
I picked myself up off the ground and first decided it would be best to find out where I was – not location, exactly, but where in the story.
"I think you should come with us," Katara repeated, pointing to her left. "We made camp over there."
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An hour later, I was sitting on a large boulder beside a small lake. The trees surrounding us shaded us from the sun.
After a while, I figured out that I must be in episode fourteen of season one, The Fortuneteller. The way I found out was by watching Aang weave a necklace for Katara out of the fishing line he stole from Sokka.
Just a moment later, it was double confirmed when a large, green fish jumped out of the lake.
"It's taunting us," Sokka said. After watching it for a few seconds, he gasped and smiled, running towards the creature I'd been introduced to earlier – Aang's flying sky bison, Appa.
Now, I knew Sokka was excited about the fish because it was rare that the three kids got anything good to eat because of all the traveling they did. He ran towards Appa and pulled a long rod off of the saddle on his back.
Running back to the lake, he thrust it behind his back and swung it forward, but something was missing – the line that I had watched Aang steal.
"Wha...?" Sokka started. "Where's my fishing line?"
"Oh," said Aang with a guilty smile. "I didn't think you'd need it, so..." He pulled out his creation, which when inspected closely, was more beautiful that I'd remembered.
I was trying to keep quiet about what was to happen next (because I obviously knew the whole story), but it was very hard. I let out an involuntary gasp and smiled really big. And, just as I thought, Aang gave the necklace to Katara. Sokka, who was wading in the lake, trying to grab the fish, gave me a glare.
Katara put the necklace on and I nearly died trying to keep my laughter inside when she asked Aang how she looked. Everyone familiar with the Avatarverse knows that Aang has a crush on Katara. Of course, he blushed and stammered out that she looked great. Sokka, from the lake, had caught the fish and called out, "Smoochy, smoochy! Someone's in love..." The fish in his arms then slapped him with its tail and jumped back into the water. Aang blushed even further, and Katara, not making it any better, told Sokka to shut it.
"Aang's just a sweet little guy," she said, patting his head. "Just like –"
But I interrupted – not my fault, you would have too. "Just like Momo," I completed for her, referring to Aang's flying lemur, Momo.
"Yeah, how did you know?" Katara asked, looking questioningly at me.
"Um... lucky guess?" I stammered. Just then, a big crash came from a few yards away. Aang airbended himself up to see what was making the noise.
"Someone's being attacked by a platypus-bear!" he yelled down at us. Sokka, Katara, and I quickly ran to find the person, and when we did, we started shouting out suggestions to him.
"Punch it in the bill," Sokka yelled.
"Run downhill and climb a tree," Katara suggested.
"Then run in zigzags," Aang added.
"No need," said the person, a man who seemed to be enjoying his near-death experience. "I will be ok."
The platypus-bear swung its paw, sharp claws extended, at the man's head. But the man ducked, still smiling. The platypus-bear's claws scraped the tree right behind the man. Aang, feeling he should save the man, jumped in from of him and pushed the platypus-bear away with a blast of air. Because it didn't go away, Appa sneaked up on it and let out a growl. Scared, the platypus-bear made a slinking walk on into the river.
I tried not to clap, but it was very hard. Airbending on TV wasn't nearly as exciting as it was in real life.
"Thank you, but there was no need to save me. Aunt Wu predicted that I would have a safe journey."
I squealed, and Sokka looked at me funny. I sort of shut up then.
"Aunt who?" said Aang.
"No, Aunt Wu. She is the fortuneteller in my village. Awful nice to know your future." After that, he said his good-byes and started to leave. "Oh," he said, turning around to face us again. "Aunt Wu said that if I met any travelers along my way to give them this." He handed a tightly wrapped package to Aang, smiled, and left.
"Maybe we should go see Aunt Wu and learn our fortunes," Katara thought out loud. "It could be fun!"
"Oh, come on," Sokka scoffed. "Fortunetelling is nonsense."
"You should listen to her, Sokka!" I sang out. He ignored me. I looked over at Aang, who was ripping open the package. It was an umbrella.
"Oh yeah," I said, then put a hand up over my face to shield my glasses from what was about to happen.
And yes, it began to rain. Katara ran to get under the umbrella with Aang, then said, "This proves it."
"No, it doesn't!" Sokka yelled. (Poor guy, he's just a skeptic!) "You can't really tell the future!"
"I guess you're not really getting wet, then!" I laughed out before Katara got the chance.
"Of course she said it was going to rain! The sky's been gray all day. Ok, look. I'm going to make a prediction," he said. From behind him, I copied his mocking stance. "It's going to keep drizzling," he proclaimed in a misty voice. Aang caught sight of me making fun of Sokka and laughed. Then the rain stopped. Sokka kicked the dirt.
----------
A little while later, we found ourselves being showed inside the building where Aunt Wu was.
A young girl, maybe ten years old, came out and introduced herself as Meng, Aunt Wu's assistant. She took an instant liking to Aang.
"You've got some pretty big ears, don't you?" she said to Aang.
"I... guess..." he answered.
"Don't be modest. They're huge!" I said for Sokka, as he seemed in no mood to joke.
A woman rushed out from the back, gushing to Meng about how Aunt Wu said that her true love would give her a rare Panda Lily. Then she caught a glimpse of Aang and whispered loudly, "Is that the big-eared guy Aunt Wu said you'd marry?" Meng, clearly embarrassed by the woman (and my laughing probably didn't help), ushered her out quickly just as Aunt Wu herself came into the room and asked that Katara be next.
When she went back, Aang asked Sokka what they might be talking about back there – but before Sokka got the chance to answer, I burst into the conversation.
"Can I trust you guys with a big secret?" I asked. Sokka casually raised an annoyed eyebrow, but Aang nodded earnestly.
"Well, would you say that I act as though I know some things are about to happen?" They nodded. "Well... I'm psychic. I can tell you exactly what they're talking about back there."
I had to stop myself from laughing when Aang's eyes widened and he said, "Do tell!"
"Ok, they're talking about..." I paused, and Aang nodded for me to go on. I was really the master of suspense! I couldn't hold it in anymore – the laugh just came out full force.
Sokka scoffed as tears streamed out of my eyes, so I choked out, "They're... they're talking about seaweed lotion!" I swear I saw Sokka crack a smile then. He and I both knew that Aang had been so gullible... but they didn't know I was telling the truth. The conversation between Aunt Wu and Katara really did start out that way.
"Ok, ok, I'm sorry," I gasped out. "But they did talk about that. Just about now I'd say, they're talking about her love life." I motioned for Aang to come closer. When he was close enough for me to whisper in his ear, I leaned in. "Aunt Wu is telling her she'll marry a powerful bender," I whispered.
Sokka was the one who laughed this time, but I kept a serious face for Aang's sake.
Katara came back out then, and Aang hopped up for his turn. While Aang was gone, Sokka filled Katara in on my "psychic abilities". Thankfully, she chose to believe the lie.
----------
Afterwards, the gang was talking about their visit. When Sokka's turn had come, Aunt Wu refused to see him. She claimed that his future was full of struggle and anguish, most of it self-inflicted – then said that she could tell by the look on his face. Sokka's bad mood was back.
"That woman is crazy! My life will be calm, and happy, and joyful!" He was just about to kick a rock when I told him that wouldn't be a good idea. I guess because he wanted to see what would happen if he did, Sokka kicked the rock. It bounced off of a sign hanging nearby and beaned him square in the head. I believe it was at that time he decided to trust me.
We walked into the main square of the village, where a bunch of villagers were looking at the sky. The gang turned to me for an explanation.
"They're waiting for Aunt Wu to come and read the clouds, which will predict the fate of the whole village. When she reads them, she claims that the village will not be destroyed by Mount Makapu this year," I recall, thinking back to the many times that I watched this episode.
"Ah," they said together. Just then, Aunt Wu showed up to read the clouds. Katara ran forward to see if I was telling the truth about Aunt Wu, but I pulled Aang back for a second.
"Listen, Aang, you and Sokka need to go up to the rim of that volcano, where the Panda Lilies are in bloom. Remember what I said and go where it takes you."
He nodded, and then ran to catch up with Katara.
Just as I'd told them, Aunt Wu predicted that the volcano would not destroy the village. When Aunt Wu had finished, Katara called to me that she was going for another reading. Aang and Sokka had disappeared, so I figured that Aang had taken my advice and dragged Sokka along on the little adventure. I decided just to take a little nap with Appa...
----------
"Elizabeth! Elizabeth!!" Someone was shaking me awake. I rubbed my eyes, and saw it was Aang. "Thank you so much for telling me! We have to go find Katara – do you know where she went?" He seemed frantic, probably because the volcano was to erupt soon. I sent him up there so that he could see it himself.
"Yeah, she went to get another reading from Aunt Wu," I said, smiling about how much faster the story was going along with me there.
We all ran as fast as we could to Aunt Wu's building, where Katara was standing, staring with her arms crossed and a frown on her face at the entrance doors.
"She won't let you in?" I asked, all-knowingly. She nodded.
"Katara," Aang said frantically. "Aunt Wu was wrong – the volcano is about to blow!"
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"Wheee!" I cried, hanging on to Appa for dear life. "This is awesome!"
Katara, a waterbender, and Aang, an airbender, were reshaping the clouds so that Aunt Wu would believe them about Mount Makapu. Aang, with a bit of help from Meng, had stolen Aunt Wu's cloud reading book so that they'd know the correct shape. I had just come along for the ride.
When Appa touched back down, Sokka had pointed out the cloud to Aunt Wu, who gasped. Aang took over then, just as I suggested to him. The volcano had been shaking the ground for some time then, and lava was starting to pour out over the edges.
"We can still save the village! Lava is going to flow downhill to this spot. If we can dig a deep enough trench we can channel all the lava away from the village to the river. If any of you are earthbenders, come with me!" He hopped off to start the trench. Others who weren't earthbenders grabbed shovels to help.
Me, though – I sat back and watched it all: the lava spewing out of the volcano with vigor, Aang calling for everyone to get out of the trench, Katara realizing that the lava was going to overflow.
Aang launched himself in the air and began to airbend the lava straight up, rather than allow it to advance on the village. He drew in a great breath, and with the help of airbending, expelled it, cooling all of the lava into stone.
"Wow," commented Sokka from below. "Sometimes I forget what a powerful bender that kid is."
"What did you say?" Katara asked instantly, obviously remembering Aunt Wu's words.
"Yeah, Aang is pretty powerful," I said, casually glancing at her face to watch her expression change. Rather satisfying, I'd say.
----------
Aunt Wu laughed when Aang admitted to her that he'd messed with the clouds. She felt that just as he'd reshaped the clouds, anyone could reshape their destiny.
The gang loaded their stuff on Appa and we said our good-byes to the villagers. When we flew off into the sky, I knew that this would be my last ride.
"Guys, I think it's time I left."
"No!" gasped Sokka. "I need to know which pants to wear tomorrow!"
"The same ones as today," I said. "Guys, people will be looking for me. Sorry."
Just then we flew through a cloud, which hid me completely. It also gave me the same falling feeling that I had experienced in that bathroom. One second, I was hearing the gang's frantic voices when the realized that I was gone, and the next, I was in the same bathroom stall.
Standing up, I quickly unlocked the door to the cubicle and made my way back to band, muttering, "That. Was. Weird."