DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN, NOR HAVE I EVER OWNED ATLA. I DO NOT OWN, NOR HAVE I EVER OWNED THE CHARACTERS IN ATLA. I DO NOT OWN, NOR HAVE I EVER OWNED NICKELODEON. HAVE NO AFFILIATION, NOR HAVE I EVER HAD ANY AFFILIATION WITH THE WRITERS OR ANIMATORS OF ATLA. I HAVE NO AFFILIATION, NOR HAVE I EVER HAD ANY AFFILIATION WITH NICKELODEON.

Chapter 2

The grey haired lady pulled out a chair for him to sit, "Have a seat before you fall over." She laughed. "I'll make us some tea."

She busied herself in the kitchen while Aang tried to recover his wits, somehow he managed to forget how to talk or think. A few minutes later she returned with a pot of tea and two cups. He was still overcome by shock his eyes glazed over. She had to tap his hand to get his mind to come back to the cave. "Aang are you okay? You must have so many questions for me... I know I have a lot for you as well."

"Oh... I... uuuuhhhh... Ye.. Yeah." He finally managed to say. "I'm... uuummm... Questions... How did Bumi know you were here?"

Sonam let out a sigh of sadness. "After the Fire Nation attacked and killed everyone in the temples there were hiding places the remaining Air Nomads went to hide. Omaha was a large hub for the remaining Air Nomads... We went there... there were rumors about caves, like this one, that were supposed to be hiding places... sadly most of the roomer caves were traps set up by the Fire Nation. I became great friends with Prince Bumi... He told me a lot about you Aang, he said you two were best friends."

One corner of Aang's mouth curved up, "We still are best friends."

The woman refilled his cup, "My turn, what happened to you after you ran away? Everyone freaked out and there was a major search for you before the Fire Nation started hunting Air Nomads."

Aang stared into his cup of tea, he was ashamed for running away like he did. "I... I ran away because they said they were going to take me away from Monk Gyatso... To send me away to complete my education at another Temple. I... I didn't want them too, I loved him like a father... So I ran away, I took Appa and ran away." He shook his head. The memories were still so fresh in his mind. "I was caught in a storm that night, the waves were so big and Appa has having a hard time with all the lightning... we... we went under. That's the last thing I remember." Then a smile spread across his face and his grey eyes twinkled, "The next think I know I was looking up into the most beautiful blue eyes, I had ever seen... The most beautiful girl I'd ever seen."

"My turn, why are you so young looking?" She asked him.

"When Appa and I went under, I passed out... I was drowning...The Avatar State... It kicked in, it took control of me and it froze Appa and I in an ice bubble... Not only did it freeze around us, it also froze us in time... One hundred years, not a single day of aging..." Aang said before asking his next question. "My parent's you said you know who they are... or rather who they were... I was reading... I don't understand how they could just give their child over to the monks and nuns to raise... I could never do that."

Sonam shook her head sadly, "Not ALL turned their children over, I was raised by my mother... You... Your mother didn't want to turn you over, she wanted to raise you... they took you from her. They said as the Avatar you needed to be brought up in an Air Temple for the best training. She loved you with every bit of herself, you were the most important thing in her life."

"One hundred years ago 'Love' was a forbidden word, our mothers weren't like the rest of the Air Nomads. You mother wanted you to know what love is... to be loved, she wanted you to love." Sonam hoped he had the chance to know love, she hoped the Monks didn't corrupt his young mind.

A smile spread across Aang's face, "I do love. I know love... I love, I'm married to the most beautiful, the most wonderful woman in the world. She is the one who found me, who brought me back to the world. We have been together since I was 12, she was 14... We have 3 beautiful children, two airbenders, and a waterbender. We have another little girl on the way." Aang told the woman.

The old woman chuckled softly, "An airbender getting married, one hundred years ago that would be taboo."

"Katara's father preformed the ceremony, Hakoda Chief of the Southern Water Tribe." Aang said proudly.

"You married a water tribe princess!" Sonam asked him.

"She is a Waterbender, the only one there after all the Fire Nation raids..." Aang smiled widely was he thought of his wonderful, growing family. She's my waterbending Master... She can still take me down every time."

Sonam let out a laugh, "The Avatar still can't beat his Waterbending Master... Even with all his power?!"

"Nope, she is a VERY powerful waterbender... But we haven't really sparred much lately." Aang was feeling much more relaxed, telling this surviving airbender about his life, about his family.

"Why not?" The old airbender asked him.

"Well... uuummm... Our oldest is almost three, we have beautiful blue eyed twin baby girls that are a year and a half old... And in just a couple months we are expecting another little girl... I just don't think it's a good idea to throw ice daggers at my pregnant wife." He chuckled lightly.

Sonam laughed too, "I haven't heard you laugh since the last Yangchan festival you were at." The last one he had attended was just after he turned twelve, it was right before he was told that he was the Avatar. "You had just gotten your tattoos... We played together, you may not remember though." A shadow crossed her face when she said it. "Do you remember anything from the Yangchan Festivals? Not the traditions the people... The children you played with while flying the crane kites... The people that talked to you every year."

"I... I remember lots of kids." Aang said sadly, he wished he could remember Sonam. "I remember a beautiful woman with long black hair and beautiful grey eyes bringing me an Egg custard tart to every Yangchan Festival. She was always smiling at me and telling me I've gotten so big... She always wished me a happy birthday... I never understood how she knew I had just had a birthday... I figured she was one of Monk Gyatso's friends, they always talked and watched me as I flew the kites."

Sonam smiled, "That was your mother... She loved you so much... When they took you from her, she begged them to have Monk Gyatso raise you. He was a very dear friend, one she had since she was a child... She flew the crane kites with him when she was a child too."
Aang was in shock, "She... she was my mother?!" He had no idea how to react or what to say. "What... what was her name?" Tears stung his eyes, he saw this woman every year; she always had an egg custard tart and most of the time a small gift for him. He never knew she was his mother... She loved him, she did not abandon him.

"Anila, she was a powerful Airbender, she earned her tattoos at fourteen." The old woman told him.

"Anila that is a beautiful name!" Aang said.

"She kept telling everyone you were still alive... She said she would feel it if you died. Nobody believed her. She wouldn't stop looking for you, even when everyone told her to hide, she searched... She was right, you are still alive."

"And... and my father?" Aang asked her.

"Your father... well, he turned out to be more than what people had come to know him for... He was killed while he was protecting his daughter... your sister." Sonam said as she quickly wiped the tears away.

"I had a sister?" Aang asked the kind old woman.

"Well, technically you had several half siblings... from your father." Sonam told him. "Your mother had two other children."

"What was his name?" Aang asked her.

"His name was Amitaruci." She told him.

"Anila and Amitaruci..." Aang sat in wonder, he always wondered who his parents were, what they were like, what they looked like. He knew from all the studying he did that Air Nomads didn't marry but he wondered if they loved each other. "You knew them both?"

"Yes, I was but a young girl when the attacks and murders started... With the help of the king and Queen of Omashu, My mother and I were moved here... To this cave to protect us... Anila gave us a special message to keep until the day that we see you again Aang... She wanted you to know, that she loved you dearly, that you were the most important thing in the world to her. They wouldn't let her keep you, that's why she chose Monk Gyatso to raise you. She hid in the Fire Nation itself."

"She loved me?" Aang's voice caught in his throat. He tried to choke back the tears but he just couldn't hold back anymore... His mother loved him!