Duron tightened his grip on the air, until it was solid. The air held the water inside it, until he could place it into his bucket. Once the air-held water was inside, he let go.

"Hi! What's your name?" a female voice asked.

Duron spun around to see a girl near his age standing.

"My name's Duron," he answered. "What's yours?"

"Katara," she replied.

Duron could tell by her clothing she was from one of the water tribes, and by the necklace she was wearing he could tell she was engaged.

"Who's the lucky man?" Duron asked, smiling.

Katara looked confused, then suddenly realized he was talking about her necklace.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, holding the necklace in her hand. "I'm not engaged! My mother gave this to me."

Duron shrugged. He looked around, there were no others.

"Where are you from? I haven't seen you in the village before," Duron inquired.

"Me, my brother, and a friend are... travelers of sorts... We got a camp in the woods," Katara answered.

Duron scoffed, "those woods? Those woods are filled with predatory animals, you'd better stay out of there."

The blood drained from Katara's face. Duron could hear it too: a couple of voices yelling for help. The yells were coming from the woods.

Both him and Katara raced into the woods, after about twenty seconds of running, they came across the clearing where they had set up camp. Two boys were fighting for their lives as wolf-bats tried to maul them alive. One of the wolf-bats was on top of one of the boys. The boy was holding the wolf-bat back with a staff, lodged in the wolf-bat's mouth. Duron quickly sprinted over, and kicked the wolf-bat off of the boy. The wolf-bat rolled over, before returning to its feet. It changed its focus from the boy, to Duron. He and the beast circled each other, before the wolf-bat lunged into the air, at Duron.

Duron dodged to his right, and the wolf-bat flew straight into the tree behind him. The wolf-bat's head smacked right into the tree, rendering it unconscious.

"How about you guys help me?!" the other boy screamed.

Duron looked over to the other boy. He was being circled by two of the wolf-bats. The first boy was back on his feet, and swung his staff. A gust of wind flew from the staff, and it sent one of the wolf-bats flying. The final wolf-bat ran for its dear life after it saw its two pack members defeated.

Duron couldn't care less about the wolf-bats. The boy just airbended. He looked at the boy again, this time for more than a split second. He was about four to five inches shorter, he had yellow and light-orange clothing, and most importantly, had a blue arrow on his forehead.

"Who's this?" the second boy asked.

The second boy was closer to Duron's age. He had brown hair, tied up in a ponytail, and wore blue clothing. He had to be Katara's brother, as he looked like he was water tribe as well.

"This is Duron! He's a waterbender," Katara replied, checking her brother for wounds.

"Well I didn't see him bending," the boy quirked.

Duron frowned. Katara had seen him bending? Thank goodness he was working the air on water, or he might have been exposed.

This is what happens when you're too lazy to fill the bucket like a normal person, Duron scolded himself. You get exposed.

"It just happened so fast," he lied, trying to make up excuses.

The boy didn't care, he just sat down on the ground, and looked over his boomerang.

"Whatever, at least Aang saved me," he smirked.

The boy named Aang used air to blast himself up into the air, and landed in front of Duron.

"Hi! Thanks for saving me!" Aang smiled.

Duron gave an awkward smile back.

This is so weird, he thought to himself.

Katara walked over to repack somethings that had fallen out of their bags during the fight. She opened up the food bag to find it empty. Katara threw it on the ground.

"Oh come on!" Katara exclaimed, "they ate all the food!"

Sokka frowned, "no food?"

In Duron's opinion, Sokka sounded like a disappointed four year old.

Aang was more mature in his reaction. Duron could tell he was deep in thought. Aang's positive mood returned, as evident by the sudden smile on his face. He turned to Duron.

"Is there anywhere near here where we could find some more food?" he asked, his brown eyes wide.

Duron bit his lip. He wasn't supposed to bring outsiders to the estate, but Aang was an airbender. Duron could trust him. Couldn't he? And not to mention that the arrows tattooed on Aang marked him as a master. Certainly his father wouldn't mind him helping another airbender.

After a short moment of thought Duron replied, "you could stay at my house for a while I guess."

Duron scratched the back of his neck. He could only hope he wasn't going to be in deep trouble.