"What?" Aang stood in disbelief, staring up at the head monk.

"If you are so unwilling to embrace your destiny, then so be it. You are banished from the air temple." The words slammed into Aang like a bag of bricks. "First, however, you will attend a ceremony tonight. The council of elders has decided that you are unfit to be the Avatar. I suppose it's your lucky day." Without explaining what this meant, he turned on his heel and walked briskly down the stone passageway. A warm breeze swept through the corridor, but it felt frigid to Aang. What were they going to do to him?

Those fateful words swirled through his mind for hours as he sat in his room, not wanting to do anything else. At last, there was a sharp knock on his door. He leapt to his feet and opened it. His mentor stood in the doorway with a solemn look on his face. "It's time."

Although he had many questions, Aang bit his tongue and followed the guru to a part of the air temple he had never seen. The other masters sat cross-legged in a circle around a large stone floor. Aang was led to the center. The councilmen stood, and one stepped forward.

"We have deemed you unfit for being the Avatar. You must leave the temple, though you may choose one element to keep for life on your own." One element? Of course he would choose air, but… if this was how he was going to be treated, then he didn't want to remember his past.

"Water," Aang said confidently. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see a tear rolling down Monk Gyatso's cheek. He ignored it. The man who previously spoke stepped closer to Aang. He placed a finger on his forehead and a hand on his chest. A warm, tingling sensation spread through his body, and his eyes were filled with a white light. But a moment later, this feeling was replaced with a cold emptiness. Aang fell to his knees. His body felt as heavy as lead. Struggling back to his feet, he looked around. What was he supposed to do next?

"You have one hour until your powers fully subside. Now go." Aang stayed still for a moment, unable to process what was happening. But as his mind registered it, he ran. He ran to escape their horrible, judging faces and to get away from this whole situation. He passed the bison pen and glanced over at Appa. His eyes welled up as he backed away and kept running without him. Finally he reached the edge of a cliff. He quickly made sure his airbending was still intact. It had been weakened, but he still had an hour. He jumped from rock to rock, eventually making it down to the coast.

Now what? He was surrounded by ocean. Horror gripped him as he saw a massive wave

coming towards him. Surely he was going to be slammed into the rock behind him. Aang covered his head with his hands and braced himself for the black water rushing at him.

The only thing Aang remembered was the dark, swirling ocean engulfing him with frigid coldness. The next moment, sunlight was beaming into his heavy eyelids. He opened his eyes, and everything was…distorted, as if he were looking through a thick wall of ice. As a frosty chill spread through his limbs, he realized just how accurate that was. He was completely encased in ice with hardly enough room to breathe.

Panic quickly set in, and Aang's mind scrambled to find a way to escape. But he needn't have bothered, as only a half a minute later his icy prison was shaken vigorously. Aang could barely make out a thin spiderweb of cracks spreading across the ice. They grew rapidly until the entire chunk of ice split open. Aang leapt to his feet, only to have his knees buckle so that he fell right back down. All his limbs were stiff as a pole, and it was hard to move. Struggling to his knees, Aang looked around.

A blue eyed girl with chocolate skin and hair peered curiously at him, holding up a large boomerang type weapon. She was adorned in a thick blue parka and mittens, which only made Aang feel colder. When she met his eyes, the girl started.

"Oh, uh… hi! I'm Katara. What were you doing there in the ice?" she asked timidly, lowering her weapon. Now that was a good question. Aang searched his mind for any recollection of how he ended up where he was, but nothing came to him.

"I… don't remember," he said, surprised to hear his voice was quiet and hoarse. Katara squinted at him, as if to find out whether or not he was lying. Appearing to decide he was trustworthy, she helped Aang to his feet.

"Well, maybe a warm fire will help you remember. I'll take you to the village," she said. Katara led him to a small canoe, and they started rowing to their destination. "So, where are you from?" she asked. Aang was reminded of his banishment from the air temple, and a bitter taste filled his mouth. Was it worth it to share his past with this stranger? It wasn't his choice to be abandoned.

"Oh, you know. One of the water tribes," he responded in a voice he hoped was casual. Katara took in his clothing and arrows and giggled.

"Are you sure? I've never seen a water tribesman dressed like that," she said. Aang's face flushed bright pink.

"I was in a play!" he said quickly. "And then I got lost. Yeah, that's what happened! Don't know why I didn't remember before," he laughed, internally cursing himself for the terrible cover up. Katara either believed his story or thought he was off his rocker, but she shrugged and went along with it.

"That sounds like fun. Maybe I can help you find your old tribe again! I've never left the South Pole before." Aang opened his mouth to protest, but then thought for a moment. Maybe this girl could help him find a new home! Before he could reply at all, Katara jumped out of the canoe and onto a slab of ice. Aang took her outstretched hand and stumbled after her.

Before him stood a very small collection of igloos with a bonfire roaring in the center of them. Surely this couldn't be considered a town. "Welcome to the Southern Water Tribe!" Katara said proudly. Aang was then introduced to a few villagers, including a brooding teenager named Sokka and a grandmother called Gran Gran. After this, they took a seat in the snow to get to know each other.

"Pretty nice place," Aang started awkwardly. "But what's with that hardcore toddler training over there?" He gestured to where Sokka was teaching young children to hold a spear.

"Oh, that. Well, with the war and all, we figured we'd better start young with our training," Katara said.

"War?" Aang inquired in bewilderment. Katara looked at him in disbelief.

"Yes, war. The hundred year one? Ring any bells?" Aang shook his head. "Gee, what water tribe are you from? I want to go there," Katara said. "Well, I guess I'd better explain." She went on to describe the invasion of the Fire Nation and how it had thrown their tribe into poverty. This all sounded awful to Aang, but what horrified him was when he heard that the Southern Air Temple had been destroyed. He threw a hand to his mouth.

"There's no way. It can't be gone."

"Aang, it's been gone for a hundred years. Why does it matter so much, anyways? Did you know someone who had a relative there?" Katara asked.

"No, I- well… Katara, I have to tell you something." Aang took a deep breath. "I'm not from a water tribe. I'm from the air temple."

"Then how are you just twel-"

"Just listen," Aang interrupted. He explained his entire situation, starting from when he had been informed that his banishment would occur.

"Really?" was all Katara managed to say. "I suppose that explains the arrows. And the bad cover story. So, did you really choose water as your element?" she asked.

"Yeah, but I don't know how to bend it at all."

"I can help! I mean, I'm not great or anything, but I'm the only bender in the Southern tribe, so I guess take what you can get. Oh, this is going to be so much fun! I've never had anyone to bend with before! Actually, why not start now? Let's go!" Katra said all this quickly, her voice gaining excitement and pitch as she went. She hopped to her feet, and Aang followed suit. Her excitement sure was contagious. Katara went into one of the igloos, though Aang didn't follow because he wasn't sure it would fit two people. She emerged with a thick book in her hands, and she leafed through it before deciding on a page.

"This is a relic we discovered in a shipwreck. It has hundreds of waterbending forms, though I've never quite been able to get many of them. Here's a pretty beginner page, I figure we could start with that. Let's go to the water's edge, so we have something to bend besides ice."

They found a spot with relatively still water and began by pushing and pulling the water. After being showed the form, Aang picked it up very quickly. They talked as they continued this movement.

"So, are you going to become the Avatar again?" Katara asked casually. Aang dropped his water.

"What do you mean?" he asked incredulously.

"Isn't it the right thing to do? Aang, the world needs you," she responded. "I know you ran away from your responsibilities before, but people are dying. Without the Avatar, we're sure to lose this war."

"You're right. But my avatar-iness was taken away a hundred years ago! How could I possibly get that back?"

"Actually, I have an idea." Katara dropped her water as well and kneeled by the book. She flipped to the very end where she found a page labeled "Chakras." "I must have read this page a thousand times by now. With your Avatar state being taken away, your chakras must all be blocked. There's only seven of them, though, so I'm sure we can unblock them in no time. I'm sure this is how you can get the Avatar state back." It seemed a good a plan as any, so Aang nodded.

"Where do I start?"

"I'm not sure. It says here that the Earth Chakra comes first. It deals with survival. Have you ever feared for your life before?" Katara asked. She then turned red. "I mean, that's kind of personal, so you don't have to answer," she mumbled. "Just because it's in a book doesn't mean it's right." Waving off her apology, Aang wracked his brains, and his mind kept landing in the same place.

"Before I ended up in the iceberg, I stood on the edge of a cliff with a tsunami-like wave coming at me. I thought it was going to crush me, I couldn't even move."

"What happened, how did you get away from it?"

"That's the part that I don't know. But- I know I'm stronger than some water." Aang took a deep breath, and realized his palms stung. He had been clutching the snow beneath him. As he exhaled, he let go of the snow. Katara's eyes widened.

"Your arrows- they just glowed for a second there! Did I see that right?" Aang looked quickly at the back of his hand. His tattoos were as blue as always.

"I don't know, but maybe that means I unblocked the chakra!" Katara raised an eyebrow.

"That seems awfully convenient, the book doesn't say anything about that." She leafed through some of the pages.

"Well just because it's in a book doesn't mean it's right," Aang pointed out.

"I suppose I can't argue with that," she giggled. "Let's take a break for now. You look exhausted." Even as Katara mentioned it Aang realized he felt drained, despite the seemingly small amount of work he had done.

Aang noticed Katara had a very plastered on smile as they walked through the small village. Once they had passed most of the people, she ducked into the same igloo that she had retrieved the book from. It dawned on Aang that this was her "bedroom" of sorts. This time she waved him in, so Aang squeezed himself into the cramped room with her. She was throwing things hastily into a bag.

"We need to go to the North Pole!" Katara announced when Aang asked what she was doing. Her cheeks had patches of red on them and her eyes looked brighter than before. Aang remembered when she had told him she'd never left the South Pole, and it made sense why she was so eager to leave.

"Slow down, what about your village? We can't just sneak away!" Aang forced himself to be the voice of reason, though the prospect of going all the way to the North Pole excited him as well. Katara dropped her hands into her lap and sighed.

"I know, you're right… But we're still going, I can't imagine Gran Gran would try and hold me back." Aang followed her back out of the igloo, and stood back while she talked animatedly with her grandmother. His mind drifted back to the Southern Air Temple.

He had been so self absorbed when he found out he was the Avatar that he hadn't even thought of his friends or his family. When he was told to leave, he immediately complied without a second thought. Guilt washed over him as he realized he'd never have another chance to say goodbye.

Aang looked up suddenly, deciding that the guilt wasn't worth it. There was no way to change the past, but here he was handed a great new opportunity to pursue. He figured there was no use sulking about the past when he could be shaping the future. This time he noticed when the arrows on his hands briefly glowed white.

Katara looked back at him from her conversation, hearing his exclaim of surprise. Catching what had happened, she dashed back to her room to grab the book.

"Aang, you unblocked the next chakra! What happened? The book says that you need careful guidance to unblock chakras."

"Just because it's in a book doesn't mean it's right," Aang grinned. Katara laughed, then recounted her conversation to him.

"So basically, she said we can go! My brother is preparing the canoe right now, and then we're off!" They beamed at each other as visions of their adventure whirled through their minds. Aang was glad he ended up in that iceberg.

Word count: 2,487

Prompts:

(plot point) someone finds a lost child

(restriction) Include the following sentence three times - "Just because it's in a book, doesn't mean it's right.

(title) Seven

I included my element (water) in the story.