Author's Note: Umm… please don't hate me for being one of those people who never updates? I swear, I'm sorry! There's a longer A.N. at the bottom, but I'll just let you read now.

Enjoy!

Air Bender Girl

In, two, three four. Out, two, three, four. In, two, three four. Out, two, three, four.

Slowly, Jinora opens her eyes. The sun is setting, casting a beautiful glow over Yue Bay. Jinora smiles. She's spent the day meditating, in search of answers to her questions. Asides from being extremely relaxing, the meditation's also helped her decide on a solution.

Quiet as a mouse, she leaves the pavilion, dodging White Lotus sentries and Air Acolytes alike, making sure no one sees her. If this is going to work, she needs everyone to think she's still meditating.

She sneaks into her room from the window, silently thanking Gramp-Gramp for creating the Air Ball. Grabbing her glider from where it's propped up against the wall, Jinora jumps back outside, using bending to slow her decent. She takes off with the glider, circling back to her room to close the window before leaving Air Temple Island all together. Jinora never leaves her window open, and if her family were to see it, it could raise suspicions.

She flies, not towards the mainland (as Korra so often does to avoid waiting for the ferry), but towards the other island in Yue Bay- Avatar Aang Memorial Island.

It isn't the first time Jinora has visited the island, although it is the first time that she was there alone. And after closing.

She touches down gently, snapping her glider shut. The giant clock above the Avatar Museum reads that it's just after six. Her father will probably come for her around 8, so she could break her fast and have some diner before bed. She would need to be home before then.

The door to the museum was locked, but this was no problem for Jinora. Using an airbending trick that Ikki had taught her, she unlocks the door and pushes it open. Technically, this was illegal, and if caught, Jinora knows she'll be in a lot of trouble.

But Jinora is pretty good at not getting caught.

She walks through the museum. There are statues and pictures and artifacts everywhere. Certain items belonging to Avatar Kyoshi, for example, had been donated by Kyoshi Island, like a pair of the fabled Earth avatar's ginormous boots.

Jinora's personal favorite room is at the very back of the museum, a room full to the brim with very small statues. There are stairs everywhere, so visitors could get to statues that are placed on the upper levels. The room is based off the sanctuary in the Southern Air Temple, which she has visited once with her father. But because there's an awful lot less space in the museum than in the temple, the statues here are much smaller.

Jinora hasn't come to go through past Avatars and read whatever brief history the little plinths bellows the statues say, however. She has come to find peace in what is about to happen. In how her life is about to change.

She walks to the room in the very center of the museum. It's a circular room, and it's dedicated to Avatar Aang. It holds several outfits of his- the ones he wore when he fought Fire Lord Ozai during Sozin's Comet, the traditional monks clothes he had worn when he and Fire Lord Gramp-Zuko had declared peace in front of the Fire Nation, and some of his garments from when he was an adult. There were, of course, several other relics- gliders, necklaces, and airbender artifacts.

The original airbender garb that he had worn for most of his journey, however, was not there. Gran-Gran had repaired them for him, she knew, as a gift. And then, when he had outgrown them, they had been saved for Daddy. And he wore them until he outgrew them.

And now she would wear them.

To receive her airbending tattoos.

Normally this would be done by a female airbending master. Being as her father was the only master available, however, he would be the one who did it. It would be awkward, to be sure, but for the most part, she would still be wearing her bindings and undergarments.

That wasn't really why she was here, though. She had accepted that it would be very awkward. She had accepted that she would have to shave her head. She had even accepted that she was going to be the first female airbending master in over a century and a half.

But somehow, she couldn't accept that she had earned it.

Why her? Why was she worthy of becoming a master? Just because she had been born to the right people? Sure, she had memorized all the katas and mastered all the levels, but she wasn't even twelve years old! She would be, in just over two weeks, and that was probably when she was going to be getting her tattoos, but still! She wasn't ready for this. She wasn't ready to be a master.

But what scared her most of all was how close she had come to losing her father. The nights when he'd been out so late working on fighting the Equalists that they'd all fallen asleep in his bed, the night at the probending arena… Being captured by Amon, too, but that had been it's own special kind of horrible. At least for that, they had all been together.

But if something happened to her father- just her father, and nobody else- then she would be the one responsible for… for everything! She would be the last airbending master. She would have to teach her siblings and decide when they were ready. And why couldn't something happen to Daddy? The Equalists were disbanded, but the police would never get them all. What if one came back and killed him? What if he was assassinated because someone didn't like his political views? What if someone was in love with her mother and killed her father so he could have her all to himself? She'd read a book where someone tried to do that, mind you, and if it happened in her books, it could happen in real life.

But how could she tell her father that she wasn't ready for a burden that he had born for years alone? And now here she was, about to relieve him of that burden, and she wasn't ready? How could she do that to him?

She couldn't. Not when he was so excited he was practically walking on air. Mom said he hadn't been this excited since they'd found out she was an airbender. How could she disappoint her father? Her father, who she loved and adored and admired more then anything in the world?

So she had come to seek counsel from the only other airbender who knew what it meant to be alone.

"Gramp-Gramp?" Jinora called out tentatively, feeling kind of stupid. "Hello? Gramp-Gramp?" She waited, hoping for an answer, but minutes passed, and her shoulders lumped.

'This was a stupid idea. If there was some way to communicate with Gramp-Gramp, Daddy would have found it by now. It's not like you can just go into the spirit world whenever you want! Even Korra has trouble getting in there, and she's the Avatar! Why would anyone let in an eleven-year-old kid?'

Age is not a determination of knowledge, nor of power.

She whirled around, searching for the source of the voice she was sure she had just heard.

"Who said that?"

I think you know who I am. You called me here, after all.

"… Gramp-Gramp?" She called out cautiously.

Hello, Jinora.

"Are… are you really here? Is this all just in my head?"

I'm really here. But even if this were all just in your head, that doesn't mean it isn't real.

"Why can't I see you?" She asked.

Seeing a spirit in the physical world is no easy task, Jinora. It's impressive that you can hear me, even with your spiritual abilities.

Impressive. It was a word that Jinora had been described as too many times to count, and it brought her back to the reason she was here.

"Gramp-Gramp, I'm scared. I'm not ready to become a master airbender yet. I still have so much to learn. How can I be a master when I'm not sure I know everything? But I don't want to disappoint Daddy! I want to be a master airbender, but what if I'm not ready? What if I mess up? What if I don't like up to everyone's expectations? What if-"

Jinora?

Jinora blinked, surprised. "Yes?"

Whose expectations are you worried about not living up to? Your father's? Or your own?

"I… I don't know." The words felt odd in her mouth, unused. Jinora always knew.

Tenzin wouldn't have told you that you're ready if he didn't believe that you are.

"What if I can't do it? What if I fail? What if I'm the worst airbending master ever? Daddy's waited for so long to have another master… what if I'm not good enough?"

What if you can? And what if you are? What if you are best there ever was?

Jinora squeezed her eyes shut, but the tears leaked out anyway.

"I'm scared, Gramp-Gramp. I'm scared." She thinks she can almost feel the arms around her, but it can't be-

But than she opens her eyes and he's there. Not as the young boy whose adventures she has read and robes she will wear, nor the grown man he's depicted in the many statues and paintings of him around Republic City. He is old, his face is lined, and his beard is gray.

He looks like her grandfather.

And in that moment, she doesn't really care that she's nearly twelve years old and has responsibilities and duties and all those things that airbenders shouldn't have but do because there are only five of them plus Korra who doesn't count because she's the avatar, and-

And she cries and she cries. But it's all right, because her grandfather is here, and he will hold her until the fear goes away.

Author's Note: First off, again, I'm sorry. I have no excuse, but my reason was that I wanted chapter seven to be special because seven is my lucky number, and then I had a bunch of ideas that I was kinda meh about (which will become later chapters) and then just life. Like I said, a reason, but not an excuse.

About the chapter, though, I've gotta say, I love Jinora meets Aang scenarios, because I think their adorable, and of all the siblings, I think Jinora would have needed him most. Originally, there was going to be more, and it was going to end with Jinora being ready, but I think I like it ending were it did, and I was having writer's block on how to do that bit anyway. I think this is the longest chapter yet, though. I hope you enjoyed, and feel free to yell at me as much as you want for being gone so long, as long as you review. I don't mind if it's just you saying that you're furious and hate me. But just so you know, I also don't mind if it's a smiley and a welcome back, or even just a smiley.