Katara just shrugged his comment off and walked away. I sighed and turned towards Sokka. I met his eyes and said, "No, but I can try." I ran away to meet up with Aang and Katara.


Aang calls to us, "Hey guys!"

We all crowd around the statue Aang is showing us. "Who's that?" Sokka asks.

"Monk Gyatso, the greatest airbender in the world. He taught me everything I know," Aang states with pride.

Katara comes up to him and puts a hand on his shoulder. "You must miss him."

Aang looks down sadly. "Yeah," he says softly. Suddenly, he looks up, smiling, and says, "But come on! Let's go to the Air Temple Sanctuary! There's someone that Kazumi and I need to meet."

We all head towards the sanctuary and stop at the closed double doors. Katara glances between Aang and I and said, "But...no one could have survived in there for a hundred years."

"It's not impossible. I survived in that iceberg for one hundred years," Aang says matter-of-factly.

I just decide to keep my mouth shut and not say anything about what's actually inside the sanctuary.I'm actually kind of excited to see this.

Sokka runs up and tries to pry the doors open. He stops with a huff and turns to Aang. "I don't suppose you have a key?"

Aang laughs and says, "The key, Sokka, is airbending." Aang takes in a deep breath, draws his arms up, and pushes them out which puts two streams of air into the old pipes of the doors. The air flips the air symbols on the doors over. The doors start
to creak open, slowly.

Aang and I decide to venture in first with Sokka and Katara following us. Aang calls out, "Hello! Anyone home?"

I say to Aang, "Can you feel that?" I feel a familiar feeling that I assume is just the spiritual feeling that comes from all the Avatar and Guardian statues in the room, but there's another feeling that seems like it's calling to me.

We keep walking past all the statues, and the feeling gets stronger. Thankfully, it takes up enough presence in my mind that I can ignore Sokka's complains about there being no meat.

"Who are these people?" Katara asks, drawing me out of my thoughts.

Aang answers, "I'm not sure, but it feels like I know them somehow." He points to one of the statues. "Look! That one's an airbender!"

"And the one with it is a firebender," I point out.

"The next pair in the cycle is a waterbender and an airbender!" Katara notices. "They're lined up in a pattern. Air, Water, Earth, and Fire."

"That's the Avatar and Guardian Cycle," Aang says.

"Of course!" Katara exclaims. "These people are your past lives!"

Sokka interrupts, "Past lives? Katara, you really believe that stuff?"

"It's true!" Katara defends. "When the Avatar and Guardian die, they're reincarnated into the next nation in the cycle."

Aang and I had been walking ahead. I see something up ahead, and I run just to stop in front of Roku and Anju's statues. The feeling reaches a peak as I see what's in front of the pair of statues.

Katara comes up and shakes both of us. "Aang! Kazumi! Snap out of it!"

Aang apologizes, but I just sit down cross legged in front of what I found. "Is that an egg?" I hear Aang ask distantly. I don't pay attention, but I reach out and put my hand on it. I feel myself enter the Guardian State, and I find myself in a clearing
with Avatar Roku and Guardian Anju and the egg still in front of me.

"What just happened?" I asked out loud, confused.

"You are in the Spirit World with us for the time being," Roku answered. "We have to explain something."

I open my mouth to ask, but I quickly close it and just decide to be patient. I look down at the egg. It's a golden color, and it looks very intricate. I look back towards Roku and Anju and wait.

"Do you know what an animal guide is?" Anju asks me.

I nod my head. "It's typically an animal from someone's birth nation that is their friend and guide for life. Like Appa with Aang," I answer.

"That's correct," Roku replied. "Do you know who my animal guide was?"

"A dragon named Fang," I said. "What does this have to do with me though?"

Anju said, "Normally, every Avatar and Guardian have an animal guide."

It finally clicked in my head. "So...you're saying whatever is in this egg is my animal guide?" I ask, confused.

"Yes," Roku answered. "It is a dragon egg, specifically." My mouth dropped open in disbelief. Roku continued, "Fire Nation Avatars or Guardians typically have dragons as their animal guides. My dragon, Fang, mated with another before we passed on, and
this egg is the result of that."

"I'm truly honored by this, but how is this even possible? How did it survive one hundred years?"

"I am not totally sure how dragon eggs hatch in the wild, but sometimes dragon eggs will only hatch whenever a person they deem worthy touches them," Roku explained. "Fang told me to set aside this egg specifically for this purpose. Dragons just know,
sometimes," Roku said, smiling.

I look down at the egg and hold it. It just felt alive in a way. I looked back up at Roku and Anju. "Thank you. Before I go, can you please tell me some things I need to know about dragons?"

Roku nods his head. "Dragons, like humans, need food. They only eat meat, and you can either fetch the meat yourself or let them hunt. They also are all different sizes. This dragon will most likely be a smaller size, so it will be a little smaller than
Fang. Your dragon will be a fully developed dragon by the beginning of summer, and it will probably be large enough to ride near the end of winter."

I nodded my head quickly, trying to commit all of this to memory. "Thank you very much," I say.

"But wait," Roku interrupted. "There is one more thing before you go. There is the matter of you naming it. Choose wisely," Roku said with a smile as I left the Spirit World.


I slowly opened my eyes, feeling a bit out of it. "Kazumi!" I heard someone calling while shaking my shoulders.Aang."Kazumi! Are you alright?", he asked, concern shining in his eyes.

I nod quickly and smile. "I'm actually more than alright right now." I reach out and put both hands on the egg and wait.

The egg starts to shake slightly, and a crack forms. More cracks appear and soon a little red nose pops out. The little dragon chipped away at the eggs enough where it could climb out. I heard the gasps from Aang, Katara, and Sokka.

The dragon climbed into my arms and put one of its whisker-like things on my forehead. I felt something warm run through me. Something came to mind.

"Rhu," I state warmly.

I hear a chorus of, "What?"

"Her name," I say calmly. "Her name is Rhu." She climbs up and perches on my shoulder. The nice moment is broken by a crunch outside the sanctuary. We all freeze, then scramble behind the statues.

"Firebender. Nobody make a sound," Sokka says seriously.

"You're making a sound!" Katara protests.

"Shhh!", we all say to Katara.

Sokka brought up his weapon, getting ready to hit the "firebender" he thought was coming around the corner. Momo came inside the sanctuary, surprising Aang, Katara, and Sokka.

"Lemur!" Aang shouted.

Sokka drooled, "Dinner..."

They both raced off, leaving Katara and me in their wake. We both started laughing for a good minute. Once our laughing quieted down, I turned my attention onto Rhu. I gathered her into my arms and petted her smooth red scales.

"She's beautiful," Katara said in awe.

I nodded and Rhulooked in her direction. Rhublinked slowly once at her, and then she curled up into my arms and closed her eyes.

I looked up at Katara. "I guess she's tired."

Katara and I kept walking around and looking at the statues. Suddenly, felt something inside me. The Avatar statues' eyes began to glow. Katara and I shared a look. We both raced to find Aang and where he was.

We finally reached where Aang was. He was already in a air sphere that hovered off the ground. Katara ran over to question her brother about Aang and what was happening. I already knew, so I tried to make my way to Aang.

I put my hands out in front of me to stop some of the air.What I would give to be able to airbend right now.I forced my way until I could grab his wrist. He looked down at me with an enraged expression.

"Aang!" I shouted. "I know it's hard right now, believe me I do! I know how it feels! My whole world was yanked away from me too! Please, come back to us! It's hard, but you can have a new family with us!"

Katara had finally reached us. She grabbed Aang's other wrist. "Kazumi is right Aang! We can't ever replace what you lost, but Sokka, Kazumi, and I, we're your family now!"

Aang slowly descended and the air sphere vanished. He came out of the Avatar State and collapsed into Katara's arms.

Sokka came up and put his hand on Aang's shoulder. "We won't let anything happen to you," he said gently.

"I'm sorry," Aang croaked.

Katara rubbed his back and said, "It's okay. It's not your fault."

"But you were right. And if firebenders found this temple that means they found the other ones, too. I really am the last airbender," Aang said sadly.

We all huddled around and gave a group hug.


Sokka and Katara had left to go pack up their belongings onto Appa, leaving me in the Air Temple Sanctuary with Aang.

/

"How is Roku supposed to help me if I can't talk to him?" Aang asked.

"You can," I respond. Aang looks at me like I've gone insane. "You can though. We both can, actually. He's one of your past lives, Aang. If you look deep enough inside yourself, he'll be there. But I'm not totally sure how to do that yet without help
though."

We both turned around, hearing someone walk into the sanctuary. It was Katara. "Everything's packed. Are we ready to go?"

We nod and walk outside. Aang walks over to Appa and Momo. Momo scrambles into Aang's arms, and Aang turns around to face us. "Guys, welcome the newest addition to our group."

"What are you gonna name him?" Katara asks.

Momo jumps out of Aang's arms and grabs a peach. Aang smiled and said, "Momo."