SEVERAL YEARS LATER

Oland pulled the rope tight around his hand, as he lowered himself down onto a gemsbok bull. The sport was simple, open the gate and try to stay on the gemsbok bull while he jumped, turned, and twisted. Gemsbok bull riding wasn't a very well known sport, it wasn't nearly as popular as pro-bending, but Oland liked it more, partially because he wasn't a bender. It never bothered him. He didn't need any special powers to win a fight, all he needed were his two swords.

Not many people around were benders. Oland had spent his whole life on a backwater ranch with his parents. The nearest town was small. So small, Oland had yet to see a map that included it. For all Oland knew, the maps were fictional anyways. There was no world outside Shao Ti. He'd heard people talk about it, but he'd never seen it. Oland had decided that the world must be flat, and it fell off sharp a few miles out of town, since whenever someone would leave, they'd never come back. He never understood why anyone would want to leave. From what he'd heard of the outside world, it didn't sound that special. He'd heard about it from old men, who would sit in tea shops and brag about their life adventures (they ran out of stories years ago, so now they keep retelling the same ones over and over) and from the extremely rare traveler, who was usually lost, and ended up in Shao Ti by mistake.

When he was younger, he used to enjoy the stories. He would dream about far away lands, and adventures with benders. There were a few earthbenders in Shao Ti, and that was all Oland had seen until a few years ago, when a few firebenders rode in looking for trouble. What they didn't know was Oland's cousin was a master swordsman, who beat the small group surprisingly easily. After that he trained Oland, and now Oland was just as good as him. He'd heard about waterbenders from listening to pro-bending on the radio, and the old timers would tell stories about people who could bend the air.

The craziest story the old timers would tell was about this "Avatar" fellow, who they claimed could bend all the elements. He'd never believed it. The mere concept was ridiculous. Even if he was real, Oland was sure he could take him, benders had a bad habit of underestimating a guy with swords.

There was no Avatar. No person could bond with a spirit, because there was no such thing as spirits. Oland had never seen one. He'd never seen any evidence that one existed. It was all just stories, made up to pass time in a boring town in the Democratic Earth Nation.

Oland took a deep breath, then nodded his head. The gate swung open, and the gemsbok bull began bucking. There was more than one way to pass the time.

[A/N: For those who need added context, Oland's character base is essentially a cowboy]