Intro

Water…

Earth…

Fire…

Air…

Long ago, the four nations were thrown into a state of chaos when the fire nation planed to conquer the world. A hundred years of war passed and no sign of an end was apparent. Then, out of what seemed like nowhere, the avatar returned and saved the world

A time of peace followed, and the nations helped rebuild each other with the help of the Avatar. Soon enough, the air benders were reformed, and there was four nations once again.

Tragically, however, the Avatar passed away shortly after this happened, and so the Avatar cycle continued.

Hundreds of years passed. Hundreds of years of peace and harmony between the four nations. The Air nomads grew into a great nation, but still kept to the old ways of the air benders in Avatar Aang's day.

That peace, however, was not to last. Strange occurrences began happening that were unexplainable, but the all the nations feel that this may be the beginning of a new evil, and the Avatar must take charge once again and Save the world.

--

Naru sat at her desk in her cell, stooping over an old tome. A tome.

Nowadays they were called books more often then not.

The bindings were of stone and metal, the cover of leather beaten hard to make it stiff and ridged. An old earth kingdom emblem was set in the center, surrounded by gold rings. The pages of the book were yellowed and cracking, but the flowing script remained rich and fluid. The book was heavy, and one needed to use both hands and a little airbending just to transport it from one place to another.

Every single page was filled with the tales of past Avatars, including Avatar Aang and his victory over the firelord.

Naru yawned and her head drooped, her forehead coming to rest on the earth kingdom emblem.

"Why must I know all of this." She said to herself, "I bet I could think of a hundred things I could be doing right now. Iyasu does nothing but learn new airbending forms and get better and better than me. And I'm stuck here reading stuff about people that are dead." She sighed again, "History is so pointless."

She heard a knock at her door. She sat up quickly and pretended like she was interested in her book. "Come in!" She said.

Her airbending teacher, Yuda, entered the room.

"Naru? Ah, I'm glad to see you are attending to your studies."

Naru rolled her eyes, "Oh, I'm attending to them all right" And she slammed the book shut.

Yuda sighed, "Naru…" she began, but Naru interrupted her, "Master Yuda, why do I have to learn all this? It's not as if it's going to effect my life in any way."

Yuda put a hand on her shoulder, "Naru, it's important to learn about your ancestors and your heritage, it will help you understand who you are more, and how we got here."

"Fine," said Naru, "but why do I have to read every single detail of every single person's lives? How does the writer manage to stay awake while scripting this down!"

Yuda smiled, "I don't know, Naru. But as for the people, they had lives, hopes and dreams too, just like you. And you have no idea how important it really is. Someday soon, you will understand."

And she left the room, leaving Naru to sit in the darkness except for a candle flickering in front of her eyes.

Naru flicked her finger, and the candle blew out in a small gust of air.

Naru strode over to her cot and flopped down on it. It was late, and she needed her strength for tomorrow.

The moon was full that night, and it had reached the point in the sky where it's light could shine down through the little window in Naru's cell. She watched it for a while, the events of the day possessing through her head, along with plans of tomorrow.

Naru and the Moon stared at each other, the silvery-white glow reflecting in her deep chestnut eyes, until, without warning, Naru slowly slipped into that black void of floating thoughts and whispering voices that is called sleep.

--

"You'll have to do better than that, Naru!" Iyasu taunted.

Naru lay flat on her face. Iyasu had knocked her off of her feet with a complex airbending move.

Dirt covered her face and mixed with her tangled dark gray hair. Rage boiled inside her. She leapt up, dove to the side and sent a wall of forceful air toward the twelve-year-old boy.

Iyasu dodged it, twisted his body, and sent a small dust devil toward Naru. She jumped above it, wind gusting in every direction from the spot she took off, and continued rising to the ceiling. She spread out her arms and lets and caught herself in between two stone rafters.

"Not fair!" Shouted Iyasu, "That's not part of the dueling circle!"

A smile tugged at Naru's face, "Ok then, I'm coming down!" She set her feet against the ceiling and launched herself down. Just as she was about to hit the ground at lightning speed, she caught herself with a gust of wind and sent shockwaves through the air, which crashed into Iyasu and threw him to the ground.

Naru stood, feeling pride swell within her. But so fast that Naru hardly had time to blink, Iyasu sprang up and sent a curtain of air toward her, which enveloped her and threw her against the ground.

Iyasu jumped over to her and pressed the end of his staff against her head.

"Dead." He said.

"No Iyasu," said Naru, "If you would have killed me, you would disgraced your nation forever."

Iyasu spun his staff and held it behind his back, then strode away.

Naru sat up and pulled at her hair, "That's the last time I'm letting that brat beat me, no matter what."

She sat there for the longest time, drawing in the sand. For some reason, she found herself copying an illustration she saw in her history tome of Avatar Aang and his Flying Bison, which were now extinct."

She heard footsteps coming nearer, but didn't bother to look up.

"Naru?" It was the voice of an elderly man.

Naru looked up and saw Master Shiyodi, the head of all the airbenders in the eastern air temple, standing before her.

She got to her feet quickly and bowed. "Master."

Master Shiyodi knelt down and examined Naru's drawing.

"I see you have been learning something about the past Avatars." Naru respectfully sat down in front of him and folded her hands, "Master Yuda gave me a tome to read about some of the past avatars, particularly Avatar Aang."

Master Shiyodi nodded, "This is a good drawing. You have a talent, young Naru."

Naru shifted in her seat, embarrassed.

"Master?" She said.

"Yes, Naru?" He folded his legs and set his hands on his lap.

"Um, why is it necessary that I learn about past Avatars? None of the other pupils seem to be given as much to read as I have, why is it that I should learn more?"

Master Shiyodi closed his eyes for a moment, took a deep breath, then said, "You will find out in time Naru. And you are not correct, all of our pupils learn the basic histories of the Avatars. It is important knowledge to have."

"Yes, but" Naru protested, "I told something I have been learning to my fellow pupil, Seia, and she said that she had not learned that."

Master Shiyodi looked at her kindly, "Naru, it is not your place to question your elders."

Naru bowed her head, "I am sorry Master."

Master Shiyodi chuckled, "Ah, Naru. You are still young, and have much to learn. Do not fear the future, nor the judgments of others. You have a purpose of your own, a destiny of your own. But you must be patient. Things will happen in your life that you may question, but have faith, young Naru."

They both stood. Naru pressed her fist to her palm and bowed to the elder airbender, "I will remember, Master."

"Very good." He bowed in turn, "Farewell, Naru." He strode away.

Before he had gone twenty paces, he called over his shoulder, "And happy birthday!"

That made Naru smile. She walked off to where the other pupils would play airball.

When she got there, she saw that two teams had already been formed and the game was half-way in play. She also noticed, to her distaste, that Iyasu was there also.

She took a seat on a pillar that had collapsed, and all that was left was a squat stump of stone.

While she sat, she took some time to meditate. Clearing her mind and closing her eyes, she pressed her fists together and drowned out all the outside sounds.

She was not sure how long she sat there, but when she opened her eyes, the game was over and a few pupils were walking about, or talking with each other, or riding around on air scooters.

She sighed contentedly, got up, jumped off the pillar and walked back to her cell. While she walked the hallways and bridges, a few airbenders stopped to wish her a happy birthday, including one elderly female airbender who enjoyed talking about the day when she turned fourteen. She made it clear that it was an important age, and told Naru that she sensed that it would bring a great change in Naru's life.

After finally departing with the old woman, Naru laughed and shook her head.