Book 1: Water
Episode 3: The Southern Air Temple
Irina rolled over in her sleep. She knew she had been watching waaayy to much Avatar because that freaky dream was the Queen of Freaky Dreams. I mean dreaming that she had somehow landed in the world of Avatar by falling through her computer screen. This was definitely NOT something she was gonna tell her best girlfriend, Anya.
She rolled over again and became annoyed. She hated waking up. Especially, by the feel of the non-softness that she was lying on, on the floor. Did she fall out of bed?
That woke her up. She never fell out of bed. She opened her eyes in shock to see a canopy of trees above her, and seeing through to the lightening sky. By the looks of it, it was just past dawn. She could hear the light rush of water from the lake heading down the stream. She smelled the after fumes of the campfire, smoky, yet sweet, like incense. She thought she heard the sound of an animal grazing nearby. Then she heard the voices.
"Wait 'til you see it, Katara." came Aang's voice. "The Air Temple is one of the most beautiful places in the world."
It wasn't a dream. I really have come here, in this world. The thought scared her, but it also filled her with a sense of exhilaration.
Katara's voice was cautious when she replied. "Aang, I know your excited, but it's been a hundred years since you've been home."
"That's why I'm so excited!"
Irina sat up and stretched her arms above her head. God, she hated camping. And waking up. Early. She cast a slightly suspicious look at Aang and Katara who already seemed wide awake. Blagh, morning people. She was suspicious of those who were wide awake before 9am. A person has only so much perkiness and if they use it all up in the morning, they'll be grumpy for the rest of the day.
"It's just that a lot can change in all that time." Katara said quietly, "Oh, Irina! You're awake." she smiled at her. Irina just nodded and yawned and started picking out random debris from her hair.
Aang just jumped off of Appa's head, "I know, but I need to see it myself." Then he ran over to Sokka. "Wake up Sokka! Air Temple today!"
Irina raised her eyebrows, now washing her face in the lake and trying to tame her knotted hair, as Sokka grumbled and muttered, "Sleep now... temple later..." At least she wasn't the only one who preferred to sleep in.
As finished as she would ever be, Irina climbed up on Appa, accepting a sort of comb like thing from Katara for her hair. They both giggled as Aang ran a stick up and down Sokka's sleeping bag, yelling, "Sokka! Wake up! There's a prickle snake in your sleeping bag!"
Sokka jumped up, still in the sleeping bag and began hopping around, clearly freaking out. "Aaahhh! Get it off! Get it off!" Before tripping over a rock and falling on his face. Katara laughed at him and he grumbled in irritation.
"Oh dear," Irina said sympathetically, still laughing lightly.
Aang grinned. "Great! You're awake. Let's go."
Irina had never stayed in one place for so long. God, her butt was numb and felt like it had been flattened out (which could NOT be attractive). The first two hours had been OK. She had combed through all the knots in her hair, (well the best she could while riding on Appa, since it got pretty windy) she had more or less made herself look presentable, and just talked to Katara about whatever. After that she was just bored. And hungry. Apparently Sokka was the same.
His stomach growling, Sokka was going through the food bags, only to turn up empty. He grumbled in irritation. "Hey! Who ate all my blubbered seal jerky?"
Aang looked around in shock, recognizing the bag in Sokka's hand, "Oh. That was food? I used it to start the campfire last night. Sorry." He squeaked out.
Irina's jaw dropped. She groaned. Sokka was just incredulous. "You WHAT? Awww, no wonder the flames smelled so good!"
They swooped onward, towards the mountains, when Aang shouted. "The Batola mountain range! We're nearly there!"
Relieved, and now in a better mood, Irina leaned back against the saddle, humming Defying Gravity, putting her boots back on, and lacing them up. She was so focused on trying to hit the right notes under her breath without sounding like a dying chipmunk, that she nearly missed what Katara was saying.
"I just want you to be prepared for what you might see. The Fire Nation is ruthless. They killed my mother and they could have done the same to your people."
Aang grinned, not letting this get him down. "Just because no one has seen an airbender doesn't mean the Fire Nation killed them all. They probably escaped."
Katara put a hand on his shoulder. "I know it's hard to accept."
Aang shook his head, still smiling. "You don't understand, Katara. The only way to get to an airbender temple is on a flying bison, and I doubt the Fire Nation has any flying bison. Right, Appa?" Appa grunted an affirmative and Aang looked toward Irina. "Besides, Irina will tell me if there is anything for me to worry about. Right?"
Irina opened her mouth, then closed it. She couldn't hurt him. She nodded once. And Aang's grin widened. "Yip yip!"
Appa flew them higher, turning tightly around the mountain face. They strained against the strength of the wind sheer as they moved faster and faster up. Then they were up and above. They could clearly see the tall spires of the Southern Air Temple.
Aang gestured unnecessarily toward the temple. "There it is... the Southern Air Temple."
Irina and Katara spoke together. "Aang, it's amazing!"
Irina was beyond amazed. Sure, no one had lived there for a hundred years but it had a unique beauty to it's ancientness.
Aang patted Appa's head, "We're home, buddy. We're home."
As they landed, Irina was able to take it in. The Temple was huge. Comprising of several small temples together. There were weeds growing up the sides and around the buildings, but the original beauty was still there. Underneath it, Irina could also see hints of scorch marks. She looked toward the ground and gasped under her breath when she saw a hint of an old, rotted Fire Nation flag. She froze, hoping Aang wouldn't notice.
It seemed Aang wouldn't notice at all. He was racing ahead, leaving Katara, Sokka, Irina and Appa in his wake.
"So where do I get something to eat?" Sokka didn't notice anything but his hunger. Well, it seemed he noticed Irina. After helping her climb down from Appa, he kissed her hand (be still my heart!) like an old fashioned gentleman, hadn't let go of her hand and they were walking so close together that Irina could easily feel his body heat.
Katara rolled her eyes at him. "You're lucky enough to be one of the first outsiders to ever visit an airbender temple and all you can think about is food?"
Sokka shrugged. "I'm just a simple guy, with simple needs."
Irina giggled. Then she grew serious. "We know the Fire Nation was here. They killed them all. You can see scorch marks all across the walls." she lowered her voice as they caught up with Aang who had stopped along the path, "I saw an old Fire Nation flag when we arrived. We're lucky Aang didn't notice." Sokka and Katara looked at her in alarm but neither got a chance to say anything.
Aang was pointing to the ground below them. "That's where my friends and I used to play airball!"
The area below them was populated with a thicket of densely packed sticks of varying heights that had been stuck in the ground. There was a goal with a blackboard occupying either end of the field.
"And... over there would be where the bison would sleep... and..." Aang suddenly trailed off and sighed.
"Whats wrong?" Katara asked worriedly.
Aang looked down sadly. "This place used to be full of monks and lemurs and bison. Now there's just a bunch of weeds. I can't believe how much things have changed."
The other three glanced at each other. Irina pushed Sokka forward for him to change the subject. "So, uh, this airball game? How do you play?"
Aang grinned, suddenly reminding Irina of a Cheshire cat.
Katara and Irina stood off to one side. Aang and Sokka were poised at either end of the field, in front of the goal posts. Aang had already scored six times, winding Sokka in the stomach each time. Now, Aang was ready to go again, airbending the spinning ball above his hand. Within a moment though, the ball whizzed past them, hit Sokka in the stomach, and sent them both flying through the goal post.
"Sokka's about to find something else." Irina quickly muttered to Katara.
Katara gave her a wide-eyed look. "What?"
"Fire Nation helmet." Irina replied grimly.
Sokka sat up gingerly, wincing. "Making him feel better is putting me in a world of hurt."
Aang was doing a victory dance, cheering, "Woohoo! Aang seven, Sokka zero!"
Irina pointed toward Sokka, who, at that moment, saw the Fire Nation helmet half buried in the snow.
"Katara, Irina, check this out."
Katara glared at the helmet. "Fire Nation. You were right, Irina."
"We should tell him." Irina said, still staring at the helmet.
Katara nodded and looked toward Aang. "Aang, there's something you need to see."
"Okay!" Aang said happily, jumping off the stakes and practically skipping towards them. Irina saw Katara looking worriedly between Aang and the helmet. Making her decision, Katara and Irina, in unison, quickly waterbended the snow to fall on top of the helmet and Sokka.
Aang joined them then. "What is it?"
"Uh..." Irina stuttered. "A new waterbending move that Katara just showed me."
"Nice one." Aang grinned. "But enough practising! We have a whole temple to see!"
As Aang ran off, Sokka stood up, brushing the snow off himself. He looked between the girls who were both staring miserably after Aang. "You know, neither of you can protect him forever."
Neither said anything.
"Katara!" Sokka said indignantly, "Firebenders were here. You can't pretend they weren't."
Katara didn't look at Sokka as she walked towards the Air Temple where Aang had already vanished into. "I can for Aang's sake." Irina and Sokka caught up to her. Katara continued. "If he finds out the Fire Nation invaded his home, he'll be devastated."
"That's an understatement." Irina muttered under her breath, thinking of later that day when he would find Monk Gyatso's skeleton.
"Hey guys!" Aang called to them. He was motioning them to come look at the statue, the one, Irina knew, of Monk Gyatso. "I want you to meet somebody!"
The three stood beside him, looking at the old man. "Whose that?" Sokka asked.
"Monk Gyatso." Irina said in awe. "The greatest airbender in the world."
"Yup," Aang said proudly, "Taught me everything I know." Aang bowed to statue in respect.
Katara put a hand on his shoulder. "You must miss him."
Aang nodded. "Yeah." Then he headed forwards to enter the Temple.
"Where are you going?" Katara asked.
Aang pause on the stairs and looked back at her, "The Air Temple Sanctuary. There's someone I'm ready to meet."
He bounded away and Sokka and Katara looked at Irina for an explanation. She nodded and they hurried after Aang. They stopped when they saw Irina wasn't following them.
"You guys go ahead." she called. "I know whats there already, remember?"
They nodded and left. Irina sighed. She needed a moment to be alone. She had been away from home, away from her world, for a few days and she hadn't yet had any time to herself.
She sank to the ground and watched Appa munch on a couple plots of grass. She needed to concentrate. How had she done it before?
She gripped her head in her heads and tried to think of nothing but the music. The lyrics, the music, everything.
She stood up suddenly as the air around her filled with the musical, lilting sound of a piano playing.
Appa looked around for the source of the noise and Irina motioned to him that it was OK. She then felt her mouth, once again, opening without her permission.
All my dreams, I'm chasing after
They don't need, all this laughter
It took a few moments before Irina noticed something. It was her mouth singing, and yet it wasn't her voice. The original singer was still singing the song. She was just being forced to lip-sync it perfectly.
She enjoyed a few moments of being able to sing and not have to do any work. She walked around being dramatic and pretending she was in a movie (hehe).
I am sick and tired of low not higher places
Where I should belong
It's about time I proved them wrong.
OK I think I know how it works but how do I stop it? Irina wondered. She tried to concentrate on silence (which was pretty hard with the music all around). She thought about the music stopping and was amazed when it just faded away.
"OK so I can waterbend and create music. Well all in all, it's a pretty neat gift." Irina walked over to Appa and leaned her head against him, stroking his fur. It seemed to become a habit of hers that whenever she needed to think, or felt stressed, she would turn to Appa. He was her version of a horse.
In her world she hadn't actually owned a horse, but her girlfriend, Anya did. Anya had let her come over and groom the horse whenever Irina needed some time to think and de-stress (usually before exam time at school – yeesh). It was a calming thing to just brush a horse, feel it's warm body heat and try to sort your thoughts.
Well there were no horses in this world, so Appa would do. Irina smiled. She knew he was just a bison but she also knew he had an animal-like, near-human intelligence. He could understand them to an extent.
"No matter, you're still just a big, fluffy monster, right, Appa?" Irina grinned at him. Appa rumbled in agreement, and Irina swore she saw him give her a slight eye roll.
"I wonder if there's anything else I can do?" she wondered aloud. Irina sighed. "I wish I knew where the others are. I have no idea where the Sanctuary is, and I don't feel like walking through a mouldering ruin by myself." She sat down beside Appa, "I wish I knew where they were. Better yet, I wish I could see where they are. Show me Katara, Sokka, and Aang!" She shouted to no one in particular, throwing her hands out in front of her.
The air whipped around her, forming a giant cloud in front of her. Irina yelled and stepped back in shock. She was about to completely freak and run for help when she saw what had happened.
In the middle of the cloud, she could see the Aang and Sokka chasing after a brown and white monkey thing with big ears and a long tail. Her eyes widened and she crept closer, keeping her eyes fixed on the screen.
"I wanna eat you!" Sokka yelled from the screen.
Irina's jaw dropped. They were chasing Momo. But how did this happen? She took a look at the cloud. It was still cloud shaped, but the image within gave it a look of a small TV. She gasped as she saw Aang racing down some stairs, waaaayy ahead of Sokka. She turned away from the image and saw Appa shambling away. He had obviously sensed something and Irina ran after him. Would she know it when Aang entered his Avatar state?
She needn't have worried. Within a few minuted, the air grew stronger, staggering her step, whipping her hair and clothes all over the place. She thought she saw a pulsating blue-white light coming from an unknown (well sort of unknown) source. But by being being Appa, he grew the bunt of it and it was easier to walk without being blown off course, and still able to follow the light.
She had no idea how, but Appa led her right to the entrance to the steps where Aang, Sokka, and Katara were. She arrived moments after Katara. By observing she could guess that they had just realized it was his Avatar state.
Katara and Sokka were holding onto a large group to stop themselves from flying back, and Monk Gyatso's skeleton was just lying there. Irina swallowed back bile. More people had died here then any other, and even after a hundred years, the faint smell of rotting flesh and clothes was still there.
"Aang, I know you're upset." Katara was shouting, yet calmly, at Aang. "And I know how hard it is to lost people you love. I went through the same thing when I lost my mom. Monk Gyatso and the other airbenders may be gone, but you still have a family. Sokka, and Irina and I, we're your family now."
Irina saw Aang as he slowly lowered to the ground, tattoos and eyes still glowing, but the wind faded away. The three rushed up to Aang and gave him a big group hug.
"We're not going to let anything happen to you." Sokka said. "Promise."
Katara took his hand and the response was instantaneous. Aang's glow disappeared and he opened his eyes, looking tired. "I'm sorry." he muttered.
"It wasn't your fault." Irina said.
"You were right, Katara. If Firebenders found this temple, that means they found the other ones too. I really am the last airbender."
Irina almost snorted, but stopped herself, turning it into a sneeze. No duh, she thought, that's why it's called 'the LAST airbender'. But she couldn't say it out loud. It's not like they would know, and it was wrong for her to even think it.
All four hugged each other tighter before heading outside to where Appa was waiting. Irina suddenly felt the need to say something.
"I'm sorry Aang." she said, not quite meeting his eyes. "I told you that I would say if there was anything you need to be worried about, and I lied. I didn't warn you. And Katara never taught me a new waterbending move. We were covering up a Fire Nation helmet that we found. We were going to show you it, but at the last moment, we decided not to." Irina hated the stupid tears that had sprung up at the corners of her eyes.
Aang gave her a sad smile, "Thank you for telling me that." He paused then opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, Irina cut him off.
"Going to take a last visit to the Sanctuary?" She grinned. Aang closed his mouth and nodded, smiling back, no other traces of sadness. "Go. We'll pack things up and come get you when we're done."
Aang walked off into the temple and Irina, smiling lightly turned around, only to be swept into Sokka's arms. She suddenly found her face within inches from his.
"Is that supposed to be romantic?" Irina asked, eyebrows raised.
"I was actually trying to scare you." Sokka said smugly. Irina decided to not burst his bubble (this time).
Sokka was about to kiss her when she suddenly had a vision of Suki in her mind. Well the cartoon version, obviously since she hadn't met the real one yet. Then she thought of Princess Yue. She pushed a hand on Sokka's chest and took a step away.
"I can't do this Sokka."
"Oh." Sokka didn't asked why. Irina knew he had come to the conclusion that Irina didn't like him.
"I like you Sokka. A lot. But we can't be together, and it's not for the reason you think." Irina randomly realized she was repeating Yue's words. Well, could she repeat them when Yue hadn't even said them yet? Irina got a headache trying to think about it.
"I'm just a guy with a boomerang. You're a waterbender and a psychic. I can't compare to that."
Irina lifted Sokka's face, making him look directly at her, with her fingers. "Did you not hear a word I just said? I. Like. You. A. Lot. But there's someone else. We'll meet her soon and it's not meant to be for us."
"Who?"
She didn't say anything. Irina, over Sokka's shoulder, saw Katara pack the last of the things and head into the temple to get Aang. She followed after and heard Sokka walk close behind.
Irina followed Katara to the Sanctuary and had to stop her jaw dropping (again). It was HUGE. The room itself was big, but the ceiling was like a gazillion miles high, all filled with statues of past Avatar's. Aang was standing in the middle, gazing up at an old man who Irina assumed was Avatar Roku.
"Everything's packed. You ready to go?" Katara asked him.
Aang ignored that. "How is Roku supposed to help me if I can't talk to him?"
"Maybe you'll find a way." Katara said reassuringly.
"Wait." Irina said. "How did you expect to talk to him? Did you think he was gonna be just waiting here?"
"No..." Aang said slowly, wondering where Irina was going with this.
"There can only be one Avatar alive at a time. I'm just saying to remember that." she shrugged.
They heard a scurrying behind them. Irina turned around and saw Momo run over to Sokka and dispose a number of odd looking fruits by his feet. Sokka began eating it at once.
"Looks like you made a new friend Sokka." Aang said. Katara and Irina giggled.
"Can't talk. Must eat." Sokka said with a bulging mouth.
Momo jumped up on Aang's shoulder and perched on his head. "Hey little guy."
The four walked out of the Sanctuary and started getting ready to board Appa. Aang turned back towards the Temple. "You, me, and Appa... we're all that's left of this place. We have to stick together." Aang turned towards the others, Sokka still with his mouth and arms full of fruit. "Katara, Irina, Sokka, say hello to our newest family member." he gestured to Momo.
Irina ran a hand over Momo's head just as Katara asked, "What are you going to name him?"
Sadly, Irina wasn't exactly paying attention so she just said, "I never thought Momo would be as cute as a drawing." Suddenly Momo jumped of Aang's shoulder, grabbed the fruit from Sokka's hand, and returned to Aang's shoulder, eating the fruit himself.
"I like that name, Irina. I'll name him Momo."
The other three just laughed at the expression on Sokka's face.
"You got owned by a lemur." Irina laughed quietly, knowing they wouldn't get it. She looked out on the horizon, surprised to see it was almost sunset. "We better get going. We'll wanna find a place to stop for the night before it gets to dark."
The others mumbled agreements and they all climbed up. Aang took the reins and got Appa moving.
Irina picked up one of the last pieces of fruit. "Are you sure this is ripe?" The fruit was the size of an orange, was green with little spikes, and yet had the texture of a peach, fuzzy all over.
"Yeah, why?" Katara asked.
Irina shrugged. She bit into it and was surprised by the sweet flavour. It was filled with juice and Irina thought it tasted a little like a piña colada (minus the alcohol and heavy on the coconut). Yum.
She glanced toward Aang. He was staring at the quickly disappearing Temple in the distance with a sad look on his face. Irina swallowed. "Hey, you can always come back here when you've finished whatever as the Avatar." she pretended to think, "I bet you'll be back by fall, maybe end of summer." she laughed at her own ironic joke.
The flew on.
