"It's like there's so much more besides just...this" that was one of the things I'd always talk about since I learned about Avatar Aang's travels. He was just so incredible, now maybe I've been rambling. Now maybe I'm like the old man telling you about my life story because somehow you got stuck volunteering at the old people home after your father slipped you a couple yuans and said "It'll look good". But truly, I thought there was always something more. Yet I was practically trapped there.

"Avatar Aang saved the world in less than a year" I'd say. "why is it so impossible to take off for a new life." or "if a blind girl can create metalbending, why can't I do something great?"

My mother would just smile a smile that could melt the South Pole and say "as long as you're happy"

But, one time, I was reading to my little cousins. I was nineteen at the time and they kept persisting, "San, read the one with the moon spirit and the princess."

"You want to hear about Yue? I told you that one last time." I smiled that smile you give to little kids. I swear I've told that story so much that it's like a part of me. "Say, did i tell you about the Library?" a small roar of "no"s and "what happened?" were interrupted by the pessimist in the room.

"Why bother, they're all just tall tales anyway. It's not like any of them happened anyway."

"Then explain how the Avatar-"

"Avatar this and Avatar that why don't you grow up San."

At that moment I decided to have a death wish.

"No, I won't." the apartment got silent, attention shifted toward my father and I. "I won't, I'm an adult and I can decide what I do and do not believe. Maybe It seems silly, but I don't want you to dictate my life. Believe me we have enough dictators around here. Maybe I want to travel the world. I could be a Pro-Bender or be successful in Republic City." everything around me started to feel hot and claustrophobic.

"You'll work the fruit stand, you already have a life-"

"Well maybe it's not one worth living!" I took a sharp breath, I didn't know where this was going but it certainly wasn't a good thing. "I have a passport and ticket out of this place." I wasn't regretting anything, but I still had a pit in my stomach.

The next bit is all just a blur, but I do remember my mother crying and telling her softly "I'm sorry"

And just before I walked out the door, I felt a tug on my shirt.

"But San," my cousin looked up with big green orbs, glossy like she was about to cry. "What happened with the Library?"

I forced a smile on myself and said "There's a secret library somewhere deep under the desert, it has all the knowledge you could ever need…"

I sat down, and this time everyone listened.

Because we all knew this would be the last time we would hear from each other.