Hello, and welcome to my tale of Book 4—Air: Second Genesis.

Thank you in advance for reading; I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. It was a pain at times, but it's been a blast. Please, tell me what you think!

My thanks to Chaka for the beta and to Invaderk for all but being my editor. It's a much stronger story thanks to you, Vee. Thanks so much, guys. 3

Avatar: the Last Airbender is the property of Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, and also by extension the property of Nickelodeon and its associated corporations. My great thanks to Messrs. DiMartino and Konietzko for creating ATLA in the first place. XD

Avatar: the Last Airbender

Book Four: Air

Second Genesis

Water…

Earth…

Fire…

Air…

Long ago, the Four Nations lived together in harmony. Then, everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked.

Only the Avatar, master of all four elements, could stop them. But when the world needed him most… he vanished.

A hundred years passed, and my brother and I discovered the new Avatar: an Airbender named Aang. And although his Airbending skills were great, he had a lot to learn before he was ready to save anyone.

But I believed… Aang could save the world.

And that's exactly what he did.

In less than a year, Aang learned how to bend the remaining three elements with three masters of bending. First, he learned the arts of Waterbending from Master Pakku… and me.

Then, he learned how to Earthbend from someone who waits, and listens: not his old friend King Bumi, but Toph Bei Fong, who I never saw wait or listen for anything.

Finally, he learned how to Firebend from the original Firebending Masters: the Dragons of the Sun Warriors. He completed his training with the last person you would think—his old nemesis, Fire Prince Zuko.

Sozin's Comet came, as everyone expected… and Aang fulfilled his destiny and faced Phoenix King Ozai when he came to destroy the Earth Kingdom. And Aang defeated him.

We each had trials and triumphs of our own. Sokka rescued our father and Suki from the Boiling Rock Prison. Zuko and I faced Azula and beat her… but at heavy cost. Azula is now in the Royal Sanitarium… and Zuko is healing.

Things have gotten better since the end of the war—kind of. There are still problems between the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom—you have to expect that after a hundred years of war—and Aang and the rest of us have gone out to help whenever we can. A lot of times we can help, but the people have to resolve their own problems. Aang can't be everywhere, and he can't stay in just one place.

Zuko is now the Fire Lord, and he has his hands full running the Fire Nation. He's doing a good job, as far as we can tell. At least, when we have problems, he can help us a lot. But sometimes… the Fire Nation people have to find solutions for their own problems, too.

We spend whatever time we can in Ba Sing Se, helping out there, waiting for the next problem to come up. We do find time to just do things, too, like explore Ba Sing Se's markets and restaurants, try foods, gadgets, clothes, and other things from all over the world... or just hang out with my boyfriend.

There are so many things I never thought I would do. Waterbend for real, making water move the way I want it to, not just at random… fly through the air… meet people from all of the Four Nations… so many things. And now that the war is over, I wonder what new things I'll do now?

Of course, saying "the war is over" is a lot easier than dealing with what really is. The Fire Nation was at war with the rest of the world for a hundred years. That leaves a lot of problems to solve.

Chapter One:

The Second Task

It was snowing in Ba Sing Se… the first snow of the season.

It just started to fall as Katara reached the Gaang's house, back from the market. The fluffy white flakes slowly drifted down, and the gray-skied city slowly started to turn white.

Katara watched the snow fall a little longer, then sent the flakes into a swirl with a Waterbending wave of her hand. She giggled and went indoors.

Inside, Sokka was playing catch with Aang; Sokka would toss the ball to Aang, and Aang would catch the ball and toss it back with Airbending. Toph messed around with Momo by Earthbending a stone under a carpet while he chased after it.

"Hey, guys!" Katara called. "It's snowing outside!"

"Cool!" said Toph. "What's it like? I've never seen snow before."

"What?" Sokka jerked upright. "How could you never see snow before? It's white, it's cold, you can make snowballs with it, and it's…" Then he saw Toph's grin. "...smirking. Ha ha, Toph, very funnyyyyyy…"

Aang chuckled. "Got him again, Toph."

Toph's grin got even wider. "But of course."

"Still…" Sokka's face mellowed. I think I'm gonna go out and look at it. It's been a long time since I've seen snow."

"Yeah, like, since the North Pole?" said Katara.

"Yeah. Several months, at least."

Toph shrugged. "What's so special about snow?"

"Well, it is nice to look at," said Sokka. "All white and fluffy… and for me, it's a reminder of home, too."

"Home." Katara grew wistful, and sighed. "We haven't been there in a while, either."

"No, we haven't." Sokka looked at the window. "Gee… I haven't thought about home in a long time, either."

Toph shrugged again. "This is home…"

"Yeah, but not like home home. Where you don't get strange looks when you ask for blubbered seal jerky, or sea prunes."

Aang made a face. "Frankly, Sokka, I don't like them, either."

Katara brightened, breaking out of her thoughts. "Let's go."

That took everybody by surprise. "Huh?"

"Let's go! Let's go to the South Pole."

"Well…" Aang looked dubious. "We're kind of waiting for the next thing to happen at the Fire Nation border."

"And we can wait just as well down at the South Pole."

"But—"

"Come on, it'll be fun! It's been months since we had a vacation." Katara spread her arms. "The world can take care of itself for a bit, can't it?"

Aang was hesitant. "Yeah, I guess it can…"

"Yeah, let's go!" Sokka, said, gathering enthusiasm. "The world can wait a bit. Team Avatar needs some down time."

Aang looked at him. "Uh, Sokka, about that name…"

Toph raised a finger. "I do beg your pardon for disturbing the celebration, but—just what's so fun about hanging out in the middle of a bunch of frozen water?"

Sokka grinned. "You'll see. There'll be snowball fights, and sledding, and—oh! You'll get to meet Gran-Gran! You two can have a frown-off!—and campfires, and roasted meats, and…"

The Gaang gathered supplies and made ready to leave. It didn't take long, as they had been doing this sort of thing for months. They left messages that they were leaving with the appropriate authorities, said their good-byes to Iroh (that took a while; he was a member of the Gaang, too, in many ways), and then they were off.

That first night in camp, however, Aang's dreams were troubled.

"Aang…"

Aang didn't stir.

"Aang…"

"Aang…"

He opened his eyes.

He was standing in a dark gray cloudbank at night. A midnight blue sky was overhead, speckled with white stars.

There opposite him was a tall regal lady Airbender.

"Avatar Yangchen!"

She smiled. "Hello, Aang."

"It's good to see you. It's been a while."

"And you." Her smile faded. "I wish the circumstances were less dire."

"Why? What's happened?"

"It is more a matter of what is not happening." She looked him in the eye. "Your task is only half done."

"My task?" Aang was incredulous. "What do I have to do? I thought my task was done when I defeated Ozai!"

"Yes." Yangchen put her hands into the sleeves of her robe and brought them in front of her. "In defeating the Fire Lord, you have restored balance to the world… for the moment. However, were something to happen to you, the Air Nomads would no longer exist. The Avatar that follows you would not be able to learn Airbending… nor the one after that… nor the one after that. And finally, when the Avatar Cycle came around again to the Air Nomads, there would be no Air Nomads for the Avatar to be born from. The Cycle would be broken… and the Avatar would be no more.

"You must restore the Air Nomads, Aang."

Aang swallowed. "But… how? I mean, surely with all that time—"

"You must restore the Air Nomads, Aang."

The dream faded.

"Wait! What am I supposed to do?"

"You must restore the Air Nomads…"