I realize the incredible risk I am taking with original characters, but I think I wrote something REALLY good this time. It is a tragedy, and it going to really move some people. Twist Ending.
I don't own Avatar of any of its characters
The Ways of The Wind
Understand these traditions, for they are the only ones that the airbenders must cling too.
To the North and South, all men will train. To the East and West, all women will train. To the whole world, all airbenders will travel.
Each airbender, male or female, shall begin their lives in one of the two temples. Those born in the growing seasons shall go to the North or the West. Those born in the sleeping seasons will go to the South and the East.
Before anything else, an airbender must be taught how to properly view the world. They must see everything as an illusion, as a temporary attachment. They must be taught to not desire anything, except peace. They must seek nothing except wisdom and what is best for the world and their people.
When their training begins, each airbender must learn in patient steps. Each level must be taught at ones own pace, and a student should never be pushed beyond their limits until they are ready. Therefore, a Master should instruct many students but still instruct individual students, those who show special gifts or who struggle in the Way of Bending.
In order to become a Master, an airbender must show proficiency in all of the 36 levels our craft, then create their own technique. Upon doing this, a Master shall receive the sacred arrows tattoos, which gives them the power of the Sky Bisons and shows the world what they have achieved.
An airbender need not master the Art of Bending to leave our temples. Once an airbender is old enough, their Elders may give them permission to leave and they may choose to leave to travel the world, where they may find love and marry. They may return if they wish, and they may leave when they get older. The Temple is not to be a prison, but a safe haven
Once every 10 years there will be held the Gathering of the Four Winds, when a great celebration shall be held with all unmarried airbenders of each Temple. Here is the one time when airbenders shall stop their studies and enjoy life. Those of at least 16 may find a husband or wife.
As long as sex does not remain an everyday part of life, and that the greed for the flesh does not overpower oneself, such a union is allowed.
But above all other laws...
...Every airbender who decides to give life to a child must surrender their first born to the appropriate Temple. Whether it be the offspring of two airbenders, or from any other union, the first child must be delivered to the temples, so that the airbenders will survive. There are no exceptions. This law must be followed!
These are the traditions! Practice them carefully. They are the only ones we have.
This is a story of a girl who did not understand those traditions.
She loved dancing with the wind. The wind loved to tickle her hair.
She laughed a lot.
She sang a lot.
She smiled even when the sky was full of clouds.
She was a young girl. But her teachers would say that she was already a woman.
She loved flying, and eating, and hearing music. Her friends were the younger children in the Eastern Air Temple, the ones she would watch after when it was time for them to play.
Her world was beautiful, full of life and hope and laughter.
And yet she had never stepped foot outside her temple, never flown passed her mountain top. She knew there was a big world out there; she had read lots of stories about it.
She hadn't seen a Man in over a decade. When she was a little girl, she remembered seeing one…once, but after so long she forgot what they looked like. She heard that they were strong and brave and could make girls laugh and feel funny, but she didn't think about them often.
She had heard of Dragons and Badger-moles, but the Sky Bisons were the biggest animals she had ever seen. She heard of things called Cats, but the Lemurs were the smallest animals she had ever seen.
Zhen didn't know much about the world, but she knew all that she needed to. She was happy…and that was all that mattered.
Wasn't it?
"Zhen, come down from there!"
Zhen pretended to not hear Ji call her. She was having too much fun dancing with the morning breeze.
"I mean it! You don't want the old Wolf-bat to find you, do you?! We have work to do!" Ji hollered up to her friend.
"Fine!" Zhen sighed and flew back down to the base of the temple. She landed in front of Ji with a loud and sudden thud that knocked the poor girl off her feet.
"Hey!" Ji landed on her butt with a thud just as loud.
"Oh!" Zhen giggled. "I'm sorry." She reached down to help her back up.
Ji was a few years younger then Zhen. They were like sisters, always looking out for one another. Zhen would offer to help Ji cheat on her airbending tests, and Ji would lecture her on why cheating was a bad thing. Ji would get blamed for Zhen's mistakes, and Zhen would stand up for Ji no matter how bad the problem. They'd sneak out at night and sometimes steal some fruit custard from the pantry, only to get stomach aches the next morning. Ji was 'the shy one', and Zhen did everything she could to make Ji come out of her shell.
They called themselves Sisters. For all they knew, they were sisters. Airbenders did not keep records of who came from what family. They didn't even get their names from their parents; the Masters who ran the temple gave it to them.
But their origins did not matter. Fate had put them both there, at the Eastern Air Temple, and they were both equals in the other's eye.
"What were you doing out here?" Ji asked. "Again! At the same place too! You are gonna get caught sooner or later."
"Not if you keep it a secret." Zhen tapped Ji on the head with her glider and Ji moaned in pain. "I'm sorry." Zhen giggled again as she rubbed her 'sister's' head.
"Get off. I'm not a little kid." Ji complained, knowing how important the age of thirteen was to girls.
"I know. But I remember when you were just a little twerp." Sixteen year old Zhen said and rubbed the top of Ji's head.
"Can we go now?" Ji begged.
"One more minute." Zhen look over the edge of the cliff, passed the pale white fog. Eye closed gently, she took a deep breath and held out her arms. "I love this place so much."
Ji looked over the edge and only saw the sea of white clouds that always surrounded the Temple.
"Why?" Ji asked.
"Because this is the place furthest from the Temple center. The closest place you can go to the Outside World without actually leaving the Temple." Zhen's smile kept growing.
"You really want to leave this place, don't you?" Ji grinned and shook her head, judgingly. The one thing they could never agree on was the fascination with the outside world. Ji was happy being in the Eastern Air Temple and would have been content if she never left the mountain she was raised on.
But while Ji looked at what was in front of her, Zhen dreamed.
She dreamed of seeing the North Pole, sailing with the Waterbenders on leather-bound boats. She wanted to watch the sun rise of the Fire Nation and hear the sages chat to the Dragons. She wanted count the starts at night, laying in a grassy field, slowly falling asleep. She wanted to know what a firefly was and what alcohol tasted like and how long it would take to fly around the whole world once.
She harbored one secret wish though, a wish that was unfortunately one that was not uncommon for young girls at that time and of her age.
She wanted meet the Avatar.
She didn't care the Fire Nation was starting to cause trouble in some parts of the Earth Kingdom (according to the rumors). She wanted to meet Roku more than anything. She dreamt of having conversations with Him, and finding out that he Avatar had a great sense of humor, that he liked sweet foods and pets like she did. She was sure that they would have been wonderful friends if they just spent sometime together.
"Well…Elder Kyoko is looking for you…" Ji interrupted Zhen's moment of peace.
"Oh, that witch again?"
"Don't say things like that."
"She is a witch! I can't even tell a joke around her with her giving me a stone face."
"Be nice. She is only trying to help us become women."
"She's trying to make us be just like her." Zhen huffed. "I want to be just like me!"
"Can we talk about this later?" Ji begged again. "We have a lot of work to do."
"Fine. I guess." Zhen put her glider on the strap on her shoulders. "Where is she?"
"In the center courtyard. Hanging the decorations."
"Do you think that this festival is going to be all that it's worked up to be?" Zhen sighed, not interested in doing more work. She had been working nonstop for five days straight, along with all of her other sisters, preparing for the Gathering of the Four Winds Festival.
"Can we please just go?" Ji begged, fearing Elder Kyoko's wrath.
"Alright, alright, let's go." Zhen walked away. Ji ran.
Zhen rolled her eyes and thought. "This is going to be a loooong week."