My mom, dad, and I were sitting on our roof, watching the sunset. Not talking, just watching the sunset. I leaned in closer to my mom, and looked at her face. It was light and happy, full of laughter. Glancing over at Dad, I saw his face was the same. I smiled and looked back at the sun, happy and warm and loved and-

"Hey! Hey!"

I looked over at Mom. "Mom," I said, "I'm right here. You don't need to shout!"

She turned to me, mouth wide. "Rae!"

"Mom?"

She grabbed me and started to shake me. "Rae!"

I woke up with a jolt. Tula was shaking me. "Ra- Oh. You're awake." She giggled and jumped back, gliding to the ground. "Are you ready? We thought we'd give you half a day of each element to start… Aetia will come by with Saza later." I nodded and stood up, stretching. I help back a yawn, and Tula disappeared behind a tree. She came back moments later, holding a little toy. It was a small block, shaped like a pyramid in the air temples, (I almost bought the same one last time my family went to the fire nation festival- a whole week of fun and games for any nation!)

"Here," she said. "Catch." I held out my hands, but she threw it up above her. As it fell past her middle, she waved her hands, sending a burst of air at the toy. It sped toward my face, and I barley had any time to duck out of the way. It flew past me and buried itself into a tree. I whirled around. "What was that for?!" I screeched, and walked toward Tula. She laughed and jumped onto a tree branch.

"You gotta learn how to avoid. That and meditation is what I'm going to spend a lot of time teaching you."

I threw a rock at her. She twirled away- still on the branch- and laughed.

For the next hour or so, I dodged rock and branches and Tulas. She admitted she was pretty impressed with me, and that made me smile. We went onto meditating, and the time passed quickly. It was so easy for me to sit and relax and not think, just listen. Tula stopped before I did, and I was almost sorry to stop.

Two hours later, Tula was staring open-mouthed at me. "Okay. Do it again." I held in a grin and thrust my hand forward. The trees in front of my swayed, (I don't mean to brag, but one of them almost bent over double,). Tula's mouth dropped open even more, and a smile split my face.

"Wow…" she stared at me. "Wow." I jumped up a little, excitement growing in me. "You're a natural!" I took a deep, shaky breath as my excitement grew. I was a natural! Me!

"I think your true element is air!" Tula screamed, and leapt toward me, pulling me into a suffocating hug. She let go and ran back toward a tree, and told me to sit.

"Okay. So you're a prodigy! Wow! I want to try something…" she muttered, and sat down herself. I wasn't able to do the lotus position like her, but I was pretty close.

"So here's what you're gonna do. Stand up and jump as high as you can, and kind of push yourself up while in the air, like this…" she stood up and jumped, and, while in the air, thrust her arms down. She flew up about ten feet and then floated to the ground. "Your turn!"

I took a breath and stood up. Jumping as high as I could, I imitated her. And watched in disbelief as I flew above the ground. "Woah!" I screamed, and then forgot all about the falling part.

It took only seconds to fall, but man did it hurt. I crashed to the ground, the wind knocked out of me. Tula waited for me to stand up, and then told me to climb a tree. "You're going to jump from that. While falling, put your arms out, like this…" she put her arms out, loosely. "And then point your toes. You should fall to the ground gently."

The rest of our time together was spent jumping out of trees. It was so much fun floating gently to the ground! Aetia walked in with another girl just as I had gotten to the top of the tree, and I leapt down to meet her. I'll admit, showing off a bit.

She grinned at me, and then turned toward the girl. She had short, brown hair and gray eyes, and her lean frame hinted at muscles. "This is Saza. Saza, this is Rae." Saza's eyes went wide. I took a step toward her. She looked like she might pass out or something.

"Are you okay?" I reached out a hand, but then pulled back, unsure of what to do. She nodded, and grabbed the hand that had been reaching for her.

"Yes!" she cried, breathing becoming a bit more normal. "It's just… I'm meeting the Avatar!" She screeched, and I blushed a little. Aetia laughed.

"Saza's our group nerd. She's always reading books, mostly about the Avatar. She's dreamed about meeting the Avatar since second grade, ever since she really grasped what the Avatar could do."

Saza closed her eyes and took a deep breath, still holding onto my hand. She opened her eyes and let go. "Sorry… just the thought that I get to teach the Avatar!" She dropped my hand and took another breath.

"Sorry." I smiled at her, still a little uncomfortable. "That's okay."

She took a step back and looked at Tula. "So, Aetia told me you're teaching her airbending?" Tula nodded, and walked over toward us. "And then Aetia's going to teach earthbending at the same time-" Aetia nodded. "And then I'm going to teach her firebending and Ritu's going to teach her earthbending?" Nods from both Tula and Aetia.

"But we have to teach her quickly," Aetia said. "She has to do something about all the… um… deaths she caused."

The breath caught in my throat and I looked down. Saza let out a breath, and looked at me. "What happened?" I looked up at the sky and rolled my shoulders.

"I, uh, I accidentally went into the Avatar State… I didn't know and… and an entire town was wiped out…" I drifted off; my throat tightening and feeling tears prick at my eyes.

Saza put a hand on my shoulder. "You know," she said after a minute of silence, "Avatar Yaru- an earthbender- did the same thing? He destroyed almost half of a city of waterbenders when he went to the Northern Watertribe and a man attacked his family." I looked at her. She smiled. "So did Avatar Hartunga- a waterbender. So you see? It happens every once in a while. You just don't hear about it much because people don't want to talk about what the Avatar does that's bad… they want to talk about what they do that's good."

I smiled at her, tears no longer threatening but throat still tight.

"Thanks," I said. Aetia cleared her throat.

"Well, maybe we should start some earthbending?" I nodded, and Tula and Saza turned to leave.

"See you soon," I called after them, and then turned to start my earthbending.