Author's Notes: The product of some ruminations on Air Nomad traditions. Takes place many centuries before the start of the series.

Disclaimer: Oh no! You mean Avatar: the Last Airbender isn't mine? It belongs to Nickelodeon, Viacom, Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, you say? Who would have thought?

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Losses and Gains

"No! No! No no no no no no no no!"

The little girl squirmed in Sister Wei Shi's arms, desperately twisting from side to side to avoid her.

"Hush, hush," Wei Shi murmured. "This won't hurt at all."

The child's face, normally bubbling with laughter, was red and puffy, tears trickling down from her screwed-up eyes.

"Please, Yangchen. Act like a grown up."

"Nooooooo…"

"No, you won't act like a grown-up? Then do you want me to call Sister Palaka to hold you down?"

Wei Shi often had to face difficult children, but this one was being particularly stubborn. Well, what could she expect? That's what happened when the rearing of children was left to the irresponsible. The girl was five already, but her parents had insisted on keeping her with them on their travels until just recently. The poor fools must have thought that keeping a child aboard a flying bison was a good idea. They hadn't given her to the temple for proper training until the little prodigy had started displaying that she was capable of airbending. Now they had to start all over.

"No!" The girl shrieked, demonstrating a very capable set of lungs, and kicked at Wei Shi's shins.

Wei Shi grunted in annoyance. If the girl didn't stop struggling, she would end up cutting her ear off with the razor by accident.

"Palaka, please, could you give me some help?"

The younger nun stepped over with an unhappy sigh and held the girl's arms and head so that she couldn't pull away. It pained her to see the child so miserable, but really, was it so terrible to get your hair cut?

Yangchen twisted to the side, and the razor clipped off a lock of matted brown hair. She looked at it and sniffled.

"Why?" She sobbed, the first thing she had said to the nuns besides 'no.' "Why d'you gotta cut it?"

"So it doesn't get in your face when you learn to airbend and fly," explained Wei Shi patiently as her new ward finally began to hold still enough to begin shaving. "Didn't it bother you when you flew around with…" The girl's face screwed up for another shriek. "With your bison? It must have. Look at how tangled it is. You look like you have a dead rabbitmole on your head."

"I don't care."

"We'll let you keep some in the back," pointed out Palaka. "That won't get in your face. Although… this is so tangled we'll probably have to cut that, too. But just for now."

"Mama never cut my hair."

So that was it. Palaka sighed. The girl missed her parents. "They'll be back to visit. I promise." Although, she thought with a twinge, they might not. The two were nomads in the true sense of the word, and had seemed almost relieved to be rid of the burden of rearing a child on the back of a bison.

"Come now, Yangchen. If you be a good girl, we'll give you toys afterwards."

"I don't want toys. I want my hair." But whatever she wanted, she quieted after that, and allowed Wei Shi to continue shaving. When she was finally done, Yangchen looked like an entirely different person, the matted, unkempt locks were gone, except for a little in the back, replaced by smooth soft skin.

"There," smiled Palaka as she released the girl's arms. "You look like a proper airbender now."

Yangchen patted her head and sniffed, staring at the floor as Wei Shi placed her hands on the girl's head.

"Spirits, bless this child of the winds. May she always have a clear sky and a safe harbor for landing. Winds, carry our prayers."

Palaka stepped back and began to wrap the cut strands of hair in cloth, watched closely by Yangchen. They would be given as an offering to the winds later.

"There, was that so bad, now?" murmured Wei Shi, cradling the child in her arms. "I'm sorry we scared you, but it couldn't have been so terrible. Now, go with the elder nuns and they'll take you to get some toys. Wouldn't you like some toys?"

As the young child left, Wei Shi sighed. Of course, she had not been a good girl at all, but she was going to get toys anyway, as per the council's orders. Her parents had said that she was born during the autumn five years ago, which would make her the right age… But it didn't matter. That was so unlikely it didn't even bear thinking of.

Palaka turned to her friend and shook her head in disbelief.

"I don't envy you. That one's going to be a handful."

They had no idea.