Driver's Ed… Sky Bison Version
"Amaya!"
Amaya squeaked and fell backwards off the pole she was perched on. Her head cracked against the ground painfully and she looked up to see worried dark eyes over her.
"Aang," she sighed, hopping up. "I love you like a brother. But please don't do that anymore."
"Sorry," Aang apologized. "But the thing is, you know how we have to pass a flying test before we're allowed to have our own sky bison?"
"Yeeees," Amaya said slowly, looking at the young boy suspiciously.
"Well," Aang said, turning the full cute force of his big eyes on her and practically bouncing up and down in excitement. "I was sort of, maybe hoping that you'd let me take Appa up and teach me to fly." Amaya blinked as the last part came out in a rush.
"You want to fly Appa," Amaya said slowly. Aang nodded eagerly. "And you want me to teach you how." Another nod. "And you can do this without killing us all?"
"Come on, I'm not that bad!" Aang pleaded. "Pleeease?" He pouted and widened his eyes.
Amaya growled. "Darn you and your poodle pony face." She swiped a hand across her eyes. "Fine, fine. If you saddle Appa," she bargained.
"Okay!" Aang grinned, jumping up and spinning before racing off for the stables on an air scooter. Amaya just shook her head and followed, air jumping over obstacles and rebounding off walls. Maybe in the Earth Kingdom people walked around buildings, but in the Air Temples, people vaulted over them. Well, she and Aang did. The monks didn't. Actually, they gave them dirty looks.
"Wow," Amaya blinked when she reached the stable and saw that Aang was already sitting in Appa's saddle with the reins in hand eagerly. "I didn't know it was possible to saddle a sky bison that fast."
"Well," Aang said. "I sort of saddled him beforehand, in case you said yes."
"Forethought," Amaya approved. "Go Aang." She jumped into the saddle next to him and examined his hold on the reins. They were wrapped around his hands. "Okay, first, hold your reins like this." She quickly corrected his grip. "Monk Gyatso told me all these horror stories about people who held their reins like that, then the bison jerked its head forwards, and whoops! No more fingers." She nodded gravely. Aang gulped.
"I had no idea that could even happen."
"Neither did I, kid. But now you know what happened to the Three-Fingered Monk," Amaya said. Monk Amoro was frequently called the Three-Fingered Monk, just not within his earshot. In actuality, it was a cake-baking accident, but Aang didn't need to know that.
"Okay," Amaya said. "So you take the reins like so. All sky bison have a command phrase to get them to lift off. You know Appa's. All you do is flick the reins and say it."
Aang shipped the reins violently. "Yip yip!" he yelled happily. Appa jerked and lowed before vaulting into the sky, swerving madly as Aang inadvertently jerked his reins.
"Aang, Aang, Aang!" Amaya screamed as they flew towards a spire. "Stop, stop!"
"What?" Aang asked, coming out of his happy trance for a moment. "Oh." Effortlessly he swerved and Appa dodged the spire. Amaya blinked.
"What the… Why am I teaching you? You're a natural!"
"The monks say I have no self-control," Aang admitted.
"Well neither do I," Amaya pointed out. "You don't see me going to Monk Kyro for flying lessons."
"Yeah, but the monks let you get away with stuff," Aang shrugged, twitching the reins again and pulling them into a steep ascent.
"Argh, okay, I see the problem!" Amaya said, seizing the reins and leveling them out. "You can't make hand gestures while you're steering. Even if it's not meant to be a command, that's how it seems to Appa. If you're going to talk with your hands, just use one hand to steer. You can do it and talk with the other hand. And no bouncing!" she added sharply. "You'll make Appa edgy. He doesn't know if you're about the fall off or not."
Aang took a deep breath. "Okay, got it. Thank you. Sifu Amaya."
Amaay grinned and ruffled… well, if he had hair, she would have ruffled it, but instead she just rubbed his head. "No problem, kid."
They stayed out until sunset, Amaya helping Aang calm down enough to steer well and getting him in the habit of removing a hand from the reins before he talked. Once he had the hang of it, they started ding tricks, spiraling around the towers and landing on small patches of ground. Amaya taught him how to do a tight loop in the air. After a while, they slacked off to dive-bombing monks.
When they finally landed in the stables, there was a group of said monks waiting for them and looking royally annoyed.
"Amaya," Gyatso said. "Is it true that you and Aang have been attacking the monks?"
"Of course it is!" one raged, holding up ink-stained hands. "You think I did this to myself?"
"I threw my cake when they snuck up behind me!"
"Several important scrolls ended up in the koi pond when I was hit with a bison foot!"
"Yeah, maybe a little," Amaya admitted sheepishly.
"Well congratulations!" Kyro snapped. He was a grizzled old monk with a hunch and a frizzy little goatee. "You both have earned one of your worst punishments yet!"
"Now, Kyro," Gyatso attempted. "Amaay is my pupil, it's my duty to dole out disciplinary action."
"Maybe so," Kyro admitted reluctantly. "But this also involves another pupil, mine, in fact, and I'm giving them a group punishment! So either she gets punished twice or we go with my option."
Gyatso was cornered, and Amaya was screwed. They both knew it.
"Proceed," Gyatso allowed. Kyro, who had never liked Amaya or Aang, stepped forwards with relish.
"You will both be cleaning out the stables in their entirety! No bending! And it has to be done by eleven tomorrow, or it'll be so much the worse for you!"
"But we already have morning chores and an hour of meditation!" Aang protested.
"Then you'd better get up early!" Kyro advised. "And you'll be cleaning up all the damage you caused. That means re-writing those scrolls, baking a new cake, and cleaning his robes!"
"Laundry?" Amaya blinked. "Do you really want to have us do laundry again?"
There was a pause as everyone remembered the time Amaya and Aang had been given laundry duty. Everyone shuddered at the memory of the bright neon yellow underwear that had plagued the temple for weeks.
"Perhaps not the robes," Kyro agreed.
This oneshot was suggested by BookLover4Ever Yay. I have to say, it was really fun to right. A bunch of my friends have their driver's tests soon, so it was sort of on my mind, and I doubt sky bison are just handed out to people who have no idea what to do, so this was born! I hope you enjoy it!