Twist . . . turn . . . now flow . . . smoothly. Continuous movement . . . follow the current . . . offer no resistance.
At this point in his airbending training, Aang no longer needed to train using the rotating gates; he had long since earned the arrow tattoos that marked him as an airbending Master. This, right now, constantly twisting about and moving in circles, maneuvering between the violently spinning gates for hours and never exiting the training aid, was to help him keep his mind off of his duties. His newly-discovered Avatar duties.
Aang twitched as he accidentally thought about what he was trying not to think about and breathed out hard, sending air currents throughout the rotating gates and speeding them up, forcing Aang to concentrate more on moving with them. This was a cheap way of putting off what needed to be done, but at the moment, Aang couldn't force himself to face it yet. Not quite just yet.
As he twisted around the gates, a familiar voice called out to him. "Aang? Aang, we need to talk about something."
His eyes flashed as he thought about ignoring Gyatso, but sighed, stepping out of the training aid gracefully. However, he still didn't look Gyatso in the eye.
Gyatso placed a hand on his shoulder, "Aang, I know this is hard for you to accept and I wish that the Council had waited until you turned sixteen to tell you that you were the Avatar. But the world needs you now, Aang."
"But I don't know if I can," the young Master confided sadly. "I'm just a kid. I haven't even traveled to the other nations yet. How can anyone expect me to save the world?"
Although Aang couldn't see it, Gyatso smirked, "That's what I came to tell you. Most Air Nomads don't start their travels until they're a little older, but I convinced the Council that it was in their best interest - and yours - that we begin early. I hope you can pack your things quickly, Aang, for tomorrow, we're going to the Earth Kingdom."
Aang, who had been staring at the ground sadly, jerked his head up and stared at Gyatso in shock. "Seriously?"
"Seriously," he smiled at the boy who had become almost like a son to him. "You need a break and to see the rest of the word. Plus," he whispered now, "I put chili pepper in their fruit cakes and if we don't want to get in trouble, we had better be gone before lunch tomorrow."
Aang laughed out loud. A bit of the weight on his heart lightened. The kids had already started treating him like he was some kind of superpowered bender. It meant more to him than he could describe in words that Gyatso hadn't changed toward him.
He got a mischievous smile on his face, "Make that breakfast. I mighta, kinda-sorta, maybe have put peanut butter on their door handles . . . and shoes."
Gyatso grinned back at him, glad to see him back to normal, "Make sure Appa gets a good night's rest tonight. We have an early morning tomorrow."
So, I've recently gotten back into Avatar: The Last Airbender and this popped into my head. Comment's appreciated, pretty please!
~Dogtooth