"Wait until you see the Southern Air Temple. It's one of the most beautiful places in the world!" Aang said as he tightened the reins on Appa's horns.
Katara and I glanced at each other. I hoisted a sleeping bag to her, and she grabbed it and placed it inside the saddle.
"Listen, Aang..." Katara drawled. "It's been a really long time since you've been home. What if things are... different?"
"Then I'll see it for myself." Aang hopped off Appa and walked over to Sokka as he snored in his sleeping bag. "Wake up, Sokka! We've got to get going!"
"Five more minutes..." Sokka mumbled. He turned over in his sleeping bag.
Aang pouted, but it was immediately followed by a mischievous grin. He picked up a nearby twig.
"Look out, Sokka! There's a prickle snake in your sleeping bag!" Aang cried, running the twig up and down Sokka's sleeping bag.
Sokka's eyes shot open, and he leaped to his feet. "Get it off! Get it off!" he cried, hopping around. He tripped and fell back to the ground. Katara covered her mouth and giggled.
"Good, you're up. Now, let's go!" Aang said. Sokka scowled and mumbled under his breath.
I smiled and climbed up Appa's tail. From this view, I could see the orange sunrise. Aang hopped onto the saddle, startling me.
"Are you ready, Ursa?!" he cried.
"Um... yeah," I said. "I've never been to an air temple before."
"Then you're going to love the Southern Air Temple. It'll take your breath away!"
He scurried to Appa's head, grabbed the reins, and sat down. Katara and Sokka climbed onto the saddle. The three of us exchanged glances.
No one had the heart to tell him.
"Look, look! Those are the Patola Mountains!" Aang cried, frantically pointing ahead. "That means we're almost there!"
Katara and I looked at each other. I looked between her and Aang, urging her with my facial expressions to go talk to him. She grimaced and crawled over to Aang.
"Hey, Aang..." Katara said. "There's something I need to tell you about the Southern Air Temple... You see, we've been at war for a hundred years because of the Fire Nation. They killed my mother; who's to argue that they haven't also done that to your people?"
"Just because people haven't seen an airbender doesn't mean they're gone. They probably escaped," Aang said casually. "Besides, the only way to get to an airbender temple is on a sky bison. There's no way the Fire Nation could reach them."
Katara sighed and sat back on her knees. We flew up the side of one of the mountains and through the circle of them. At the top of the center mountain sat the Southern Air Temple.
"There it is," Aang said with a smile. "Guys, welcome to my home."
"It's beautiful," Katara said.
As I stared at the temple, agony throbbed in my heart. Whatever was inside, I don't think I wanted to see it.
Appa landed at the foot of the temple. Long and winding paths lead up to it. We started our trek, Aang several paces ahead.
"Hurry up, you guys! I can't wait for you to meet everyone!" Aang said. He stopped at a turn and pointed below to a field with many wooden poles sticking up in the air. "There's where my friends and I played airball. Next to that is where the bison would sleep..." Aang's voice trailed off, and he sighed. "This place used to be so full of life, but without everyone here, there's nothing but weeds. So much has changed..."
I winced inwardly when he said 'life'.
"So..." Sokka said, stepping next to Aang. "How do you play airball?"
Aang grinned, grabbed Sokka's arm, and hopped off the ledge, using the wind currents to carry them down to the field.
"What are you doing?" I said to Katara. I gestured to the air temple. "Why are you trying to hide this from him?"
"I just... can't find it in me to tell him," Katara said as she watched Sokka try to balance on the poles. "I guess we're just trying to make him feel good for as long as possible..."
"Before we bury him into the ground? He'll find out eventua-"
My eyes fell to the ground, and I gasped. A rusted Fire Nation helmet sat in a bush. I knelt to touch it, only to retract my hand and jump back on my feet immediately before I got close. I turned back to Katara.
"You can't protect him from the truth forever."
Katara avoided my eyes.
We reached the entrance of the temple. A large, empty fountain sat in the middle of the tiny plaza. Aang jogged around it and stood in front of a statue of a monk.
"I want you to meet Monk Gyatso." Aang turned to us and gestured to the statue. "He's the greatest airbender in the entire world, and a really good friend of mine."
Aang bowed to the statue. Katara placed a hand on his shoulder.
"You must miss him terribly," she said.
"Yeah... I do." Aang climbed up the stairs to the door.
"Where are you going?"
"To the Air Temple's sanctuary. There's someone there I need to meet."
"Meet?" We followed Aang to the doors of the sanctuary. "How could anyone be in there? No one's lived here for one hundred years."
"It's not impossible. I survived in an iceberg for that long."
Aang took a deep breath and thrust his arms towards the door. Air flowed out of his palms and into the open ends of the giant mechanism hanging on the door. The three blue stones with swirled patterns flipped over, showing a purple side and blowing air out the center. The latches unhinged, and the doors slowly opened.
"Hello?" Aang called, stepping inside. We hurried in after him. The light from outside leaked into the room, and we saw multiple rows of statues. I looked up and saw many more statues on shelf-like ledges, extending as far as I could see into the darkness.
"Statues? That's it?" Sokka said as we passed by them. "Who are these people anyways?"
"I'm not sure... but I feel like I know them from somewhere," Aang said. He pointed to one of the statues, which had arrow tattoos like him. "That one's an airbender."
"And here's a waterbender!" Katara said, pointing to the fur-cladded person standing next to the airbender. "They're all lined up in a certain elemental pattern: air, water, earth, and fire."
"That's the Avatar cycle."
"Oh! I get it!" I cried. I spread my arms out to the sides. "These statues must represent the past Avatars."
Aang approached a particular statue. He had long hair and beard with a topknot. He held his hands together, and his long sleeves covered them.
My eyes were drawn to his top knot, which had a headpiece over it.
The Crown Prince headpiece. A chill rushed down my spine as I stared at this Avatar.
"Helloooo? Earth to benders!" Sokka waved his hands in front of mine and Aang's faces. I blinked.
"Who is that?" I said.
"That's Avatar Roku, the Avatar before me," Aang said.
"How do you know his name? There's no writing," Katara said.
"I just know it."
"You always manage to outdo your weirdness," Sokka said.
A low moan echoed through the room. We tensed and turned to the door. A shadow appeared on the floor. We jumped behind the nearest Avatar statues. Sokka pressed a finger over his lips and reached for his club. Taking a deep breath, he leaped out.
"What the...?" he said, lowering the club.
We peeked out from the statues. A small winged lemur stood in the doorway, chattering curiously.
"A lemur!" Aang cried. He jumped out from behind the statue. The lemur tensed, turned around, and sprinted down the hallway. "Wait! Come back!"
Aang ran out of the room. We climbed to our feet and ran down the hallway after Aang. Up ahead, the lemur jumped onto the edge of a balcony. It jumped off, and Aang didn't hesitate to leap off the balcony.
"Aang!" Katara cried from the balcony. His laughter faded as he plunged down the cliffside after the lemur.
"We'll go after him," I said to Katara. She nodded.
We turned back and headed back in the direction of the sanctuary. Sokka and I turned the corner when an opening came while Katara headed back to the sanctuary. Below, we saw Aang crawl through a tattered brown sheet acting as a door for a worn-down building. We jogged down the path.
"Aang, don't go running off like-" Sokka said, but his voice stopped when she stepped completely inside. I heard sniffling. I gulped before I stepped inside.
My throat closed. The roof was a brown sheet with tears, allowing light to leak in and let me see the inside of the room. The floor was covered with a layer of ash. Piles of skeletons lined the left side of the room, each donning Fire Nation armor. Their arms were stretched out, reaching towards the skeleton that sat against a pile of fur at the end of the room. A ray of light shined down on it, and I could see their decaying monk robes. Around its neck was a necklace made of blue beads. A wooden pendant with the air symbol carved into it sat in the middle.
Aang was on his knees, doubled over and weeping.
"Aang..." Sokka said. He stepped closer to Aang and rested a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry, everything will be all right. Let's get out of here."
Aang lifted his head. His arrow tattoo glowed white. Sokka took a step back. Aang slowly climbed to his feet. The wind began to pick up, harshly blowing my hair back. An air dome surrounded Aang.
"Aang, calm down!" Sokka cried. The dome hit him, and he flew back, crashing into me. We tumbled out of the building. A few moments later, the building exploded. We landed behind a large piece of cement. I crawled to my knees and peeked out from behind the rubble.
"What happened?!" Katara cried. She approached us like she was walking through space, the strong winds making it hard to progress forward.
"He found out that the firebenders killed Gyatso!" Sokka shouted over the winds.
"Oh, no... This must be his Avatar State." Katara looked at Aang. The air dome around him grew. "I'm going to try and calm him down."
"Hurry before he blows us off the mountain!"
Katara stepped out from behind the rubble and slowly trudged towards Aang. The winds grew even stronger, and I clung desperately to the rubble. Aang lifted into the air.
"Aang! It's me, Katara!" Katara cried. "Please, listen to me! I know it hurts to see all of this- to see your loved ones gone. I know what that feels like. But that doesn't mean that Gyatso and the others are gone! They're still with you! You still have a family! Sokka, Ursa, and I are here! We're your family now!"
Slowly, Aang lowered himself back to the ground. The winds stopped. Aang stood with his back to us, his tattoos still glowing. The three of us approached him.
"We'll always be here," Sokka said. "We won't let anything bad happen to you."
Katara reached out and grabbed Aang's hand. The glow faded from his tattoos. With a groan, Aang collapsed. Katara opened her arms and caught him.
"I'm sorry..." Aang whispered.
"It's okay," Katara said, holding him tightly. Sokka placed a hand on his shoulder. I stuffed my hands inside my pockets.
Back in the sanctuary, Aang stood in front of Roku's statue.
"You ready to go?" Katara said.
"Yes," Aang said. He sighed. "How is Roku supposed to help me if I can't talk to him?"
"I'm not sure. But you're the Avatar; I'm sure there's a way."
The low moan from earlier returned. We turned to the door and saw the lemur. He hopped over to Sokka and placed a small pile of fruit at his feet.
"For me?" Sokka said. He plopped onto the ground and devoured the fruit.
The lemur climbed up Aang and sat on his head, its long tail wrapped around his neck.
"Looks like we have a new addition to the team," Aang said.
"What are you going to name him?" Katara said.
Aang held his arm out, and the lemur perched on it. As Sokka raised a peach to his mouth, the lemur snatched it back and nibbled on it.
"Momo," Aang said.
"Hey, that's mine!" Sokka cried. The rest of us laughed.