The Parents
As the couple walked along a path on Whale Tail Island, they held hands. This was a special place. It was where they'd met and fallen in love. I was where they'd married and later conceived their only child, their baby who they missed terribly.
He'd brought her to the island to cheer her up. This time of year was always hard on her, but this day would be the hardest because it was their son's birthday, his tenth to be exact.
Eight years earlier two monks and a nun came looking for the new avatar. When it was their son's turn to pick toys, he toddled onto the mat happily, as the other children had, and chose four unassuming toys.
The little boy went back to his parents smiling hugely as he cradled his new toys in his arms. He stumbled as his little legs struggled to maneuver around the other toys. He went straight into his fathers arms who greeted him cheerfully and instantly sat down on the ground to play with his son.
The tall thin monk with the long brown and gray mustache approached them and informed them that their little boy had chosen the avatar artifacts. For a moment the couple was proud and happy, but then they realized what that meant. Their baby boy, their precious Aang would be leaving them.
The young mother fell to her knees beside her husband, her trembling hand going to the little boy's spiky black hair. "No Mama." he protested as his tiny hands went up to shove hers away from his head. She smiled sadly, then looked at her husband. He was also fighting back tears as he continued to play with the oblivious child.
The monk, Gyatso, was to be little Aang's guardian. He stayed with them for a week so that the child would get used to him before they left. The two became fast friends, as if Aang had know Gyatso all of his two years. It was obvious that Gyatso loved their little boy, and Aang felt the same about Gyatso because he had started calling the older man Baba.
On the day he was to leave the couple made sure not to let their precious baby know that they were upset. The father held the boy in his arms and smiled a large, crooked smile as the little boy twirled his little fingers in his beard. "Well buddy," he said in a smooth deep voice "you're going with Gyatso now. You be a good boy."
The little boy giggled as his father kissed him on the forehead "Baba." he cooed as he wrapped his arms around his father's head and returned the kiss.
The young man almost broke, he handed the child to his wife and turned so that his son couldn't see him wipe away his tears.
The young woman put her little boy on her hip and sang a quick little tune to him, one she would sing when he was upset, but now singing it for herself. As she approached Gyatso, she stopped and placed the boy on his feet so that she could hug him snuggly, "I love you my precious boy. Always remember that I love you very much."
Sometimes that day felt so long ago, but sometimes it felt like it was only yesterday, and this was one of those days. The couple walked hand in hand, trading sad glances and weak smiles. As soon as they reached the end of the path they were rushed by blurs of red, green and orange.
Three little boys barely missed them as they ran past, trying to get away form a nanny. "Boys!" the older Earth Kingdom woman yelled "You three get back here! Prince Bumi, I'm telling your father!" The couple looked at each other with the first genuine smiles of the day and got ready to bend some air to stop the boys so the poor old woman could catch them, but what she said next stopped them in their tracks. "Aang! Kuzon! You boys get back here right now!"
The woman's heart stopped for a second. She looked at her husband "Tseten. Did she say Aang?" she asked in a trembling voice, her heart now racing.
Tseten couldn't breath. All he could get out was a gasped "Meela."
Suddenly a man landed before the boys and they skidded to a stop. The boys held their heads down guiltily as the poor old nanny finally caught up. The couple stood and stared as the woman chastised the boys. One boy had wild, spiky hair and equally wild eyes. He was dressed in shades of green, obviously the prince the woman had been calling after. The boy on the other end had tan skin, golden eyes and black hair, obviously from the Fire Nation. Then there was the boy in the middle.
He was slightly shorter than the prince, but taller than the Fire Nation boy. The sun shone on his little bald head as he looked up at the nanny with his big gray eyes while he fought back a smirk. The couple had been looking at the boy so intently that they didn't notice Gyatso walking up to them.
"Well, hello Meela and Tseten." the now totally gray man said.
"H-hello Gyatso." the man stuttered out, still looking at his son.
"Would you like him to come here?" the older man asked, drawing the couple's eyes to him.
"Really?" Tseten asked "That would be wonderful."
Gyatso turned "Boys, come here please."
The three started walking towards then and Meela's heart slammed against her ribcage, then a thought occurred to her. She turned back to the elder monk "Gyatso," she said quietly "please don't tell him who we are. I couldn't bare it if he knew."
Gyatso nodded as the boys approached them and stopped "Boys, these are some old friends of mine. Meela and Tseten, these young men are Prince Bumi of Omashu, Kuzon of Hing Wa Island, and my charge, Aang."
The three boys smiled and bowed and the couple did the same. "Nice to meet you." Kuzon said before he turned to Gyatso "Can we go play?"
The monk smiled "Yes, you can."
Two of the boys ran off, but the little bald one stayed and looked at the couple as if he were studying then, trying to remember something. His friends calling his name broke his concentration. He bowed to the couple then ran off to be with his friends.
"He looks like you." Meela said thickly as she and her husband watched their son run to his friends.
"Yes, but he has your eyes." Tseten replied, wrapping his arms around her shoulder and pulling her to his chest."
"He is also a very good student." Gyatso interjected "You'll be proud to know that he will be getting his tattoos soon."
Aang's parents' eyes shot to Gyatso "Already?" his mother said "But he's so young."
The monk smiled a bit "He is indeed young, but he is also very strong and determined. He is excited for the day he gets tattooed to come."
Tseten and Meela looked at each other and smiled, then Tseten turned to Gyatso "So what brought you here?" he asked out of curiosity.
"Aang." Gyatso said, glancing at the boys "He's been insisting for three months that he wanted to spend his birthday here."
The couple looked at each other again. It had been three months since Tseten told his wife that he wanted to take her to Whale Tale Island. "Does he know who he is?" Meela asked.
"No." the monk answered "Another six years will pass before he is told that he is the Avatar." Gyatso caught a glimpse of the boys terrorizing Bumi's nanny "I'm sorry, I need to go help her." he said quickly before he ran off to help the woman.
"Ten, did you hear that? Do you think that somehow he knew we would be here?"
"It's possible."
"Do you think once they tell him everything he'll come find us?"
"I'm sure he will Meela. It's only another six years. We just have to wait for him."
Meela laid her head on her husband's chest, "Yes, we'll wait for him."
So here are Aang's parents.
Tseten is a Tibetan name that means stable life, and, well Meela is just Meelo with an A instead of an O.
Aang, Gyatso, Bumi, Kuzon and Whale Tale Island by Bryke.
Tseten, Meela and the poor old Earth Kingdom nanny by me.
