Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: the Last Airbender, Nickolodeon, or any thing having to do with them, including transcripts. I just write cause its fun
Chapter 4
The Airbenders
We had only been flying about a day when we heard about them. Apparently, there were "air-walkers" spotted in the skies near the northern airbender temple, at least, according to a storyteller's Grandpa. Aang got very excited at the mere mention that there might be airbenders still alive at the temple.
"We gotta go check it out!" he said, as soon as we were far enough from the storyteller he wouldn't hear us.
"Aang, even if there are airbenders still at the temple, we should really focus on the task at hand." Sokka said with the voice of reason. Aang looked at him puzzled for a second before saying,
"Oh, getting to the North Pole, right." He looked down-hearted, not being able to come up with a good enough excuse to go.
"I think we should go to the Northern temple, it would be nice for Aang to see some of his kin, and it's pretty much directly on the way to the North Pole from here." I said, having stayed out of the conversation until now. Katara chimed in with a,
"Yea, I think Aang deserves to see who these 'Air-walkers" really are. Actually, I'd like to see them too." After a short pause during which he contemplated Aang, Katara, and I in desperation he said reluctantly,
"Well, I guess a short visit couldn't hurt." Instantly he was being hugged by both Katara and Aang, before being joined by me and Momo.
It wasn't until the next day before we started seeing the outline of a temple very similar to the one in the South, or so Cipher said.
"Look! There really are airbenders!" cried Katara, but then Aang said,
"Those aren't airbenders; you can tell by the way they're flying. They have no spirit," he looked significantly down-hearted. I went to the edge of the saddle and started looking closely at the small shapes of people gliding on staffs very similar to the one Aang had. Just then a boy came streaking out from underneath Appa and made me jump back, nearly falling off the other side. Almost immediately Aang jumped off of Appa's head, opening his glider as he went. He went flying off after the boy who, now that I looked closely, was also in a wheelchair. As we watched Aang fly through the air with the other boy, I noticed more gliders getting nearer to us as we approached the temple. I also noticed small trails of smoke furling out of the openings in the temple. Just then, two gliders shot out from underneath Appa, which caused him to rear up and for Katara to fly back and nearly fall off the back, but landing on me and Sokka. As she moved off us Sokka said,
"We better find some solid ground, before it finds us!" Katara agreed as I climbed up to Appa's head and started steering him towards the temple's main grounds. As we landed, we saw Aang come around the corner and land right in front of us, as we all saw the other boy, who according to Aang was named Teo. He had just completed a smoke air-drawing of Aang, who didn't think it was very funny. As Tao landed, other people came over to lift the glider off of his wheelchair. He wheeled over to us, and then exclaimed,
"Hey! You're a real airbender! But then, you must be the Avatar. I've heard stories about you!"
"Thanks" Aang said sheepishly.
"Wow! These gliders are really amazing!" Sokka said, going over to examine some of the other gliders around them.
"If you think this is good, wait until you see the other stuff my Dad designed." Teo said, wheeling towards the entrance to the temple. When I got inside, I saw that the entire inside of the hall was covered in metal, with dozens of pipes crossing and penetrating the ceiling and walls. I vaguely registered Sokka saying something and walking off while Teo replied back, then Aang said,
"This place is unbelievable." I would have hated the place, but something drew me to it, and I was pretty sure what it is. Teo replied,
"Yea, it's pretty great isn't it?" but Aang said,
"No, just unbelievable." I walked around in the room, curiously disgusted by what I was seeing. It wasn't the metal that made me uncomfortable; it was that the metal was being a destructive force, as it was overbearing all the original work from the monks. I walked over to an almost destroyed mural where Aang and Katara were.
"This is supposed to be the history of my people," Aang said gloomily, looking at the floor. As Katara tried to comfort him however, he moved on over to a disgusting looking pool with a statue of some beast above it. As we looked at it, it belched smoke, which apparently scared Aang and he drew back. Katara, who was again trying to comfort Aang said,
"Don't worry Aang, I'm sure some parts of the temple are still the same."
"If you want to see some of the original temple, I can show you some." Teo called from across the room, where he was showing something to Sokka.
"Come on!" he wheeled off and we followed him, Sokka a little reluctantly. He led us to a small satellite part of the temple, only attached by a small walkway. When we got inside, it was a relief to see the inside of it seemingly untouched. Just as the others and I started looking at a huge statue of an airbender monk however, I heard from somewhere distant a,
"Look out!" I covered my face just in time as a giant wrecking ball came smashing through the wall and disintegrated the statue of the monk. I could see that there were several people emerging from the cloud of dust left by the wrecking ball. Then a partially bald man with a red monocle in his right eye stepped forward from the rest. He was wearing a green tunic mostly covered by a white smock and was completely covered in dust.
"What the doodle! Don't you know enough to stay away from construction sites? We have to make room for the bathhouse!" he had a voice and demeanor very much like Clank's, although he did not look as experienced. Aang stepped up,
"Do you know what you just did? You just destroyed something sacred! For a stupid bathhouse!" he looked ready for a fight, and I could sense his anger was reaching boiling point. He swung his staff and struck the ground with it, causing a blast of air to rocket past the people behind the man and blow the wrecking ball and it's crane to fly off the edge of the cliff. Then Aang turned back to the man,
"This is a sacred temple! You can't treat it this way. I've seen it when the monks were here. I know what it's supposed to be like." The man looked a little confused, and a little scared.
"The monks? But you're 12!" He seemed like he was trying to keep reason in the conversation, something he had mastered. But then Teo said something that immediately cleared up who the man was,
"Dad, this kid's the Avatar. He used to come here a hundred years ago." Teo's dad looked back at Aang who started up again,
"What are you doing? Who said you could be here?" He advanced on Teo's dad with every question. The man turned away as he started,
"Hmmm, doing here. A long time ago, but not a hundred years, my people became refugees after a terrible flood." He made large gestures as he went to stand behind his son's wheelchair ". My infant son, Teo, was badly hurt and lost his mother. I needed somewhere to rebuild and I stumbled across this place. Couldn't believe it! Everywhere pictures of flying people. But empty! Nobody home! Then I came across these fan like contraptions!" Aang still did not look convinced, but I saw Sokka and Katara thought otherwise. I remained silent as Aang said,
"Our gliders," with extra emphasis on the word 'our'. But Teo's dad seemed to ignore the emphasis and said,
"Yes, little light flying machines. They gave me an idea. Build a new life for my son, in the air! Then everyone would be on equal ground, so to speak! We're just in the process of improving upon what's already here and after all, isn't that what nature does?" now I was on the verge of saying something, but Aang beat me to it,
"Nature knows where to stop." He said it with a finality that told me the conversation was very nearly over, whether resolved or not.
"I suppose that's true. Unfortunately, progress has a way of getting away from us. Look at the time!" he seemed grateful for a change of subject as he looked over at a group of candles on a little table. As I looked at it, it flashed four times, which prompted Sokka into stating the obvious,
"You put spark powder in the candles!"
"Four flashes, so it's exactly four hours past midday, or, as I call it, four o'candle! Come," he said as he turned to the others behind him,
"The pulley system must be oiled before dark." Even though it looked like Aang wanted to continue his argument, Teo said something that, temporarily at least, would take his mind off the subject,
"Come on Aang, I want to show you something." As Sokka and the others walked off, Teo led the three of us in a different direction, downwards into the bowels of the temple. Then as we were walking downwards, Aang seemed to burst into speech as though he could no longer hold it in,
"I just can't believe it, not a single thing is how it used to be." Teo, although initially taken off guard, casually stopped and picked up a small crab off the floor.
"I don't know about that. The Temple might be different, but the creatures that live here are probably direct descendents of the ones that lived here a long time ago." "Yeah, they're kind of like keepers of the temple's origins." Katara said as Teo handed her the little crab. She in turn handed it to Aang, who smiled.
"Besides," Teo said,
"There's one part of the temple that hasn't changed at all." He started wheeling towards another tunnel off the side of the one on which we were. At the end of the tunnel there was a small door, which I opened. It opened onto a much larger hall, with ornately carved Airbender symbols in the walls and floor. There was broken light filtering through large windows on one side of the hall. I saw a huge wooden door at the end of the hall. It had a large round mechanism in the center of it, comprised of a series of tubes and three air symbols arranged in a triangle. The tubes were all connected to two horns at the base of the woodcut. Katara then exclaimed,
"It looks just like the one in the southern air temple!" we stopped in front of the large door as Teo said,
"I'm pretty sure only an airbender can open it, so inside it's completely untouched. I've always kind of wondered what's inside." He looked over at Aang,
"Aang?" I asked, but Aang said,
"Sorry, but this is the last part of the temple that's still the same. I want it to stay that way."
"I completely understand, I just wanted you to know it was here." Teo said. I placed my hand on Aang's shoulder and said,
"Well, I think I know one more thing that hasn't changed."
We walked back to the terrace on which Appa had landed.
"I think I'm gonna try a little flying," I said as I picked up two gliders. I looked over at Katara and held out one of the gliders,
"How about you Katara? Want to try?" after hesitating a moment, she took one and said,
"You're on."
As we got ready to take off, Teo started coaching us,
"The wind will carry you. It supports something inside you, something even lighter than air, and that something takes over when you fly." Nevertheless, Katara didn't look so confident anymore. She looked over the edge of the terrace but pulled back quickly, looking scared.
"I've changed my mind, I think I was born without that something," She said nervously, But Teo just laughed and said,
"That's impossible, everybody has it." Then Aang, who had been quiet the entire time, said bluntly,
"Spirit."
"What?" Teo asked, stopping laughing and looking over at Aang.
"That's the something you're talking about." Teo looked at him for a moment, then said thoughtfully,
"Yea, I suppose it is." As they were talking, I looked back over at Katara, who looked only slightly Reassured. Then I said quietly, so only she could hear me,
"Don't worry Katara. If you fall, I'll catch you." She looked up from the cliff, and I held out my hand.
"Ready," I said as she took it.
"No!" She yelled, but I jumped, and she jumped with me. As we fell, she started screaming, but it turned into delight as we leveled out. I let go of her hand.
"I can't believe I'm flying!" she yelled between bouts of laughter. Aang and Teo glided up next to us, and I started concentrating on my own flight. The feeling was exhilarating; I felt weightless. It was different from flying through deep space or even in an airplane. This was as close as I had ever come to actually flying, and I could understand Katara's delight. I closed my eyes and felt the air currents around me. Then I tried something; I used firebending to warm the air around me and gather speed. Then I opened my eyes and as I did, I flipped backwards and went into a vertical dive towards the terrace. Just before I hit it however, I spiraled and pulled up, flying parallel to the ground. Then as I got to the end, I slowed down, intending to make another pass. However, as I did, something happened. My left wing dipped and drug on the ground, breaking the glider. Having no control of where I was going, I rolled into a ball, preparing for impact. The next time I opened my eyes, I was on my feet. I seemed unharmed, except that my left arm felt sore. I looked around, confused. Apparently, I had rolled myself onto my feet and had not realized it. Then I noticed my glider was nowhere to be seen. I ran over to the edge of the terrace, and saw the glider off in the distance floating haphazardly towards the ground.
"Wow! Nice landing Gālon!" Teo called as he landed. Then as he got closer,
"Too bad about the glider though." He looked over the edge, watching the glider as well. I saw Aang fly down and land, looking much happier.
"Hey Teo!" He called before he was really close enough to talk.
"You know, if you really wanna see what's inside that room, I'd be happy to open the door for you."
"Great!" Teo replied. I looked back up at the sky as Katara started to land. At first she looked like she was doing good, but then she swerved violently, coming straight at me. Instinctively I took a few steps back, bracing myself. She hit me hard, even though she had been slowing down. I slid a couple of yards on my back before coming to a rest with Katara still on top of me.
"Sorry," she said apologetically, getting off me.
"Nice Landing," I replied, rather breathlessly. I stood up and rubbed my back, which felt like it had cracked.
"I told you I would catch you," I said, and she laughed. I looked around and saw her glider a few yards away upside-down. I walked over and inspected it,
"Well, it looks okay. Let's go meet up with Aang and Teo." I said, and we headed back into the temple.
