Author's Note: Before you guys all start reading this, just let me tell you that I wrote this a LONG time ago, and I forgot to post it. I wanted to post something on here but I didn't have any inspiration for a story so I found this.
Aang gently prodded the logs for the fire with a twig. Camp had finally been set up and Katara was making supper while Aang tended the fire. Sokka had gone hunting and brought back a boar-q-pine. Of course, he forgot the fruit for Aang in his hungry search for meat, so Aang had to go and get some himself. He had two moon peaches and a watermelon. He even finished feeding Appa and Momo.
"Are you okay?"
"Huh?" Aang jumped, having zoned out into daydreaming.
"Are you okay?" Katara repeated. "You seem distracted."
"Oh, it's nothing! I'm fine, just tired," he reassured her.
"Well, okay then," Katara resumed stirring the pot with her waterbending.
Aang repositioned himself on the ground. Katara was right. He was distracted. He has been having strange dreams lately of a woman. She looked so familiar, but Aang couldn't quite put his finger on it.
"Maybe you should rest." Katara's voice once again broke through Aang's thoughts. "Your right, you do seem tired."
Aang nodded and stood up. He walked over to Appa and lied down on his tail. Aang stared up at the sky. Millions of tiny stars speckled the night, lighting up the world. This was the last thing Aang saw before drifting off to sleep.
--
The woman walked into a room. The walls were decorated in ivy and the room was empty with the exception of a small crib and a table with some ancient toys on it.
The woman walked straight over to the crib, lifting a small baby from under its covers. The baby yawned and peered up at the woman. The woman smiled warmly and held the baby close to her. The baby laughed and pulled gently at her hair.
"Always remember me." The woman told the baby.
She walked out of the room, the child still tucked in her arms. She made her way to a room far away from the baby's room where six men sat at the end. She walked up to them, face strong but heart breaking.
"You have brought the child?" The man at the right end asked, face stern.
"Yes, he is right here," she replied, loosening her arms a bit so the baby's face could be seen.
"Good, bring him here."
The woman stood there for a second, as if challenging the men to take him from her. The men's faces hardened, but they said nothing. After a few moments, the woman sighed and closed her eyes, walking towards them.
"Good," the man at the end said while lifting his hands, a sign for her to surrender the child.
The woman looked down upon her child one last time, failing to stay strong as tears slipped down her cheeks. The child stared at her questioningly as he reached up at her, clutching the blankets that were still wrapped around him.
The man to the right coughed impatiently and the woman let out a devastated sigh, handing him her baby.
"This child is special." The man told her, holding the child up to the light, inspecting him. "Even more than the usual- if you know what I mean."
"I understand." The woman replied, struggling to regain her composure.
"You may leave." The man informed her. "This child will be apprenticed by a close friend."
He handed the child to a young man in the middle. The man took the child and stared at him sadly.
"Were you friends with the-"
"Yes!" the man at the right cut off the woman. "Now, leave!"
The woman took one last fleeting glance at the child, and took off out of the room.
--
Aang woke with a jolt. This was the same dream he had been having over and over! He looked around the campsite. It must be the middle of the night, Aang realized. Everybody's asleep.
Aang turned his attention back to his dream. Everything had been so vivid, it was like a memory. He somehow remembered all those people- the woman, the six men. He most distinctly remembered the man in the middle. Maybe it's something that has to do with Roku, Aang wondered. Am I remembering something that happened in a past life?
Aang decided he needed to contact Roku if he was ever going to stop these dreams. He walked over to a spot by the dying fire and got into the meditating position. He concentrated hard on seeing Roku in front of him. A flying sensation took over his body and when he opened his eyes, he was in the Spirit World with Roku.
"Hello, Aang," Roku greeted. "I was wondering when you would come."
"Roku, I've been having strange dreams lately, have you been sending them to me?" Aang asked.
"Yes, those came from me. But they weren't dreams, they were visions."
"Memories from a past life?" Aang guessed.
"No, Aang. They were memories, but they weren't from a past life."
"From my life?"
Roku nodded.
"Then... which one was I?"
"Isn't it obvious? Which one of those people in the dream wouldn't be able to remember the events that took place?" Roku questioned.
"The baby?"
"Correct."
"So...that's a memory of me when I was a...baby?"
"Right again."
"Why is that so important?"
"Because it is crucial to remember."
"Remember what?"
"You mean whom."
"Whom?"
"Yes, whom. Which people in your dream felt the most important?"
Aang thought about this for a moment. "...The woman and... the man sitting in the middle of the group."
"Very good, Aang. Now think about it... remember..."
Aang concentrated on the faces and tried to match them up with different people in his memory. Suddenly, everything clicked and Aang understood. "My mother and Gyatso!" He shouted.
Roku nodded in satisfaction.
"Thank you for those dreams and everything, but what does that have to do with being the Avatar?" Aang asked.
"Everything and nothing." Roku stated.
"Huh?" Aang was confused.
"That was the first day they discovered you were the Avatar."
This child is special." The man told her, holding the child up to the light, inspecting him. "Even more than the usual- if you know what I mean."
"I understand." The woman replied, struggling to regain her composure.
"It was also your first day with Gyatso-"
"You may leave." The man informed her. "This child will be apprenticed by a close friend."
He handed the child to a young man in the middle. The man took the child and stared at him sadly.
"-and your last day with your mother."
The woman looked down upon her child one last time, failing to stay strong as tears slipped down her cheeks. The child stared at her questioningly as he reached up at her, clutching the blankets that were still wrapped around him.
The man to the right coughed impatiently and the woman let out a devastated sigh, handing him her baby.
"And this is important?" Aang asked.
He felt a deep pang in his heart, a sadness in the realization that his mother had to give him up when he was a child. He felt guilty for never really thinking about her, despite her last wishes for him.
The woman smiled warmly and held the baby close to her. The baby laughed and pulled gently at her hair.
"Always remember me." The woman told the baby.
"The Avatar must be connected with the world," Roku explained. "That also means he must be connected with himself and others -including his memories and his family."
"So...this is gonna help me with the Avatar State?" Aang asked.
"It could," Roku replied. "Or it could help you better understand your new family, and how close bonds can be."
"I do understand," Aang told him. "Thank you."
Both bowed respectively towards each other before Aang felt himself being pulled away, the Spirit World vanishing before his eyes. He heard an echoing whisper before returning back to the Physical World.
"Until next time, Aang."
Aang, exhausted, returned to Appa's welcoming tail, falling back onto the furry mass. He fell into his first dreamless sleep for weeks upon impact.
--
Aang woke the next morning to the sweet smell of five flavor soup. He sat up and rubbed his eyes sleepily, sniffing in the delicious aroma.
"Rise and Shine, sleepyhead!" Katara called from her spot next to the fire, stirring away at the stew.
"Mornin'!" Aang cheerily responded, standing up and heading over to help her.
During the middle of breakfast, Aang suddenly remembered last night's visit to the Spirit World.
"Mom!" Aang yelled involuntarily, attracting the attention of Sokka and Katara.
"I knew this would happen!" Sokka yelled. "HAHA! Katara, Aang called you Mom! I told you to stop acting so motherly!"
Katara water whipped him. "He didn't call me mom! He wasn't talking to me! He just blurted out randomly!"
As Sokka and Katara started fighting, Aang stood up and sat behind a tree on the other side of camp.
He couldn't stop thinking about his mom. He felt like he had betrayed her, somehow.
Aang felt a warm hand rest on his shoulder. Katara sat down next to him, followed by Sokka.
"Aang, are you okay?" she asked gently. "We saw you just get up and leave, you've been acting kind of strange lately."
"Actually, Katara, I've had something on my mind."
"What is it?"
"My mother."
There was a long pause. Katara and Sokka stared at Aang, shocked. Neither knew how to react.
"Well...w-what about her?" Katara asked, nervous she was going to say the wrong thing.
"I've been having dreams about the day she gave me up to the monks," Aang explained. "She told me never to forget her- and I did! She was killed one hundred years ago by the Fire Nation, and she never got to see me again! I was gone! I ran away, Katara. I bet she was ashamed of me."
"Don't think that!" Katara soothed, brushing the tears off of Aang's face. "I bet she was very proud of you. She did what she had to do, Aang, or you wouldn't of mastered Air bending. Never think that she would be ashamed of you!"
Katara hugged Aang. Aang tried to pretend that it was his mother who was holding him, his mother comforting him, but he found he could not. He realized something else. It was his love who was holding him and comforting him, and he remembered what Roku had said last night.
"The Avatar must be connected with the world," Roku explained. "That also means he must be connected with himself and others -including his memories and his family."
"So...this is gonna help me with the Avatar State?" Aang asked.
"It could," Roku replied. "Or it could help you better understand your new family, and how close bonds can be."
"I do understand," Aang told him. "Thank you."
Or at least Aang thought he understood, now he realized what it truly meant. This helped him get over the fact that the airbenders were gone. His mothers love was not gone, it was just reborn as Katara's love, and Sokka's love. They were his family now, just like Katara said at the Southern Air Temple. At his home.
As Katara let go of her embrace with Aang, she stared into his eyes and Aang smiled at her.
I love you, Mom, Aang told her in his head. I'll never forget you, just as you asked.
Author's Note: This was inspired by a picture I drew. You can see it on deviantart, just go to my profile and I made a link to my DA page.