Our escapades take us all over the place as Aang essentially makes a list of things that he wants to do, and we fly around the southern hemisphere doing them. Whether it be riding hog-monkeys or wrestling with badger-moles, we go all over to satisfy Aang's obvious thirst for excitement and adventure. When it comes to entertainment, he really is just a hyperactive kid.

Finally, Aang sets a course for the southern air temple. And like usual, I sleep the trip away, huddled up in the saddle. I never sleep in the sleeping bags, or near the fire when we set up camp, I don't need to. My inner fire keeps me warm. And since I'm usually up most of the night keeping watch. They never asked me to do it, but I figure that someone should.

What wakes me up is when Sokka shakes me and holds me down against the saddle as Appa takes a steep approach up a mountain. Sokka's voice is barely audible through all of the wind. "Ciara! Stay down! Otherwise you might fall off!"

I nod and hold on tight as we climb higher and higher, and I watch with amazement as the southern air temple comes into sight. It's magnificent, built up and around a mountain, twisting and curving with a natural beauty that I've never seen before.

Katara and Sokka busy themselves with looking around once we land, though Sokka is ruled by his stomach, and Aang talks about the place like a tour guide. Though his enthusiasm is tempered when he sees how lonely and abandoned the place is. Sokka makes a smooth move by getting Aang to teach him how to play Airball. Though I sit out on one of the nearby cliffs, and watch in amusement as Sokka loses seven times in a row.

After the seventh match, Sokka takes a dive. "Making him feel better is putting me in a world of hurt." But after getting up from his crash, he notices an old Fire Nation helmet in the snow. "Katara, check this out."

"Fire Nation…" So, in order to tell Aang about it, Katara calls him over. "Aang, there's something you need to see." But she changes her mind midway, not wanting to hurt Aang's delicate feelings. She uses her waterbending to make a pile of snow fall on top of it and Sokka. "Uh, just a new waterbending move I learned."

Aang buys into it completely. "Nice one, but enough practicing. We have a whole temple to see!"

With Aang getting so into touring around his old home, I smile at him and decide to finally say something. "Hey Aang, I was wondering…Could I skip out on the guided tour and just run around this place and look at stuff? You're a great tour guide and all, but I really like just wandering around and finding things out myself. It makes everything a surprise!"

He blinks, and then grins. "Alright. Just be careful not to fall off the mountain."

"Sure. I'll keep that in mind. Anyway, there's a lot of temple, and not nearly enough time to explore it thoroughly. So I'm going to go and run around a bit." I wave to the three of them and run off to take a look around on my own.

I start with climbing up to each of the terraces. But what I find is not nearly as pleasant as what I would have found if I were here a hundred years ago. I see ruined walls and piles of skeletons, both monks and Fire Nation soldiers. Obviously, they managed to invade this temple, and probably the others as well. It doesn't sit well with me, knowing that this is what the current dynasty of leaders has done to the world. If my father were still alive… But I expel the thought from my mind. I can't afford to dwell on things that I can't change.

Suddenly, the temple starts shaking, and I know instinctively that the one causing the surges in power is Aang. He must have discovered the same thing that I did, that his people were massacred, which means that this power is a product of his anger and sorrow. So I run, I run as fast as my legs can carry me. And I see Aang with his glowing tattoos, and a sphere of air spinning violently around him. Katara is approaching him, obviously intending to calm him down. But I don't know if she can manage that, with him in such a distraught and angry state. In fact, I don't know if he'll even be able to hear her while he's like this.

"Aang, I know you're upset. And I know how hard it is to lose the 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." Katara pleads with Aang, trying to appeal to his feelings. "Sokka and I, and Ciara too, we're your family now."

I run around and get in front of Aang. "Come on shorty, it's about time for us to get back to that travel plan that you cooked up for us. So why don't you come down here and plan a few more fun things for us? There's a lot of world left to see…"

Katara looks scared and worried. "Please, Aang!"

Finally, it seems like he can hear us. The winds start to calm, and he floats down to the ground, gently. His tattoos stop glowing and he falls into Katara's arms. "Katara, I'm sorry."

She holds him gently in her arms. "It's okay. It wasn't your fault."

"But you were right. And if the firebenders found this temple, that means they found the other ones too." He closes his eyes, but looks like he's about to cry. "I really am the last airbender." It hurts my heart to see him come to such an unpleasant realization.

So after a short visit to the sanctuary to look at the avatar statues, we pick up Aang's new friend, Momo the lemur and we head back to Appa. We pack up and head off, with Sokka doing the navigating this time, while I snuggle up with Aang. It's nice to have traveling companions, since I've been on my own for a bit too long. I'm sure that my father would approve of the company I keep, and my mother would tell me to go out into the world and chase my dreams. And for now, my dreams involve traveling with Aang, Katara and Sokka.